Before the SeaQuest
by Dotti
Summary: ELF- A look into why Lucas came onboard the SeaQuest, there maybe scenes that may not suit some people, so please don't sue me!
1. Default Chapter

Before the SeaQuest… Yes, it's another look into why Lucas came onboard the SeaQuest, as my title so subtly hints J Hope ya' all enjoy it! Please RandR, if you want me to continue. Thanxs!

An eight-year-old Lucas Wolenczak heavily sat down next to his half brother, Matt. It was the summer holiday and Lucas's mum had 'requested' that the whole family should meet, for an announcement she had to make.

"So do ya have any idea what mum wanted to see us all?" Lucas quizzed him.

"No, why do you?" Matt replied.

"Absolutely none at all, but it's got to be important if she wants the _whole_ family and Baz here." The two families never got along; Matt's family disagreed about the fact that she had been married before and they hardly spoke to each other, if only to make some snide comment about Lucas and his mum. Matt and Lucas fought a lot, but they got along all right.

      Matt was six years older than Lucas, but the pair had quite a lot in common. Matt had brown eyes and brown hair, and was great fun to talk to, Lucas and Matt were always getting into arguments and that usually led them getting into trouble.

      Matt's dad had married Lucas's mum when Lucas was six years old and Matt was twelve, but he had died two years ago. This had caused the rift between the two families to increase greatly. Matt's real mum, Amy, was the cause of the rift; she had spread rumours about Cynthia before they had gotten married and had nearly broken up the couple's wedding, but Matt and Lucas discovered what had happened just in time to sort things out.

"Why are you talking about me?" Baz suddenly appeared from nowhere, making Lucas jump. Baz just looked smug while Lucas scowled at him. Matt quickly intervened,

"We weren't talking about you in particular, we were talking about the whole family _actually_," Matt flashed a grin at the family friend, Baz had known Lucas all his life and Lucas's mum, Cynthia five years before that too.

"Yeah, so don't start thinking you're special or anything, cos ya ain't!" Lucas replied, now it was his turn to be smug.

"Oooooohhhhhhhhhh! No need to get catty!" Baz teased.

Lucas was about to respond, when Cynthia walked in the room. A hush immediately filled the room.

"Now I expect you're all wondering why I've called you…?" Cynthia began,

"You can say that again!" The cool response was of course from Amy.

"Listen, do you want me to tell you or not? Because if you don't then I wont tell you, and when I'm gone, you'll wonder why I didn't tell you." Cynthia looked angry, but now had everyone's attention. Calming down quickly, she continued. "…Well, I went to the hospital," At the mention of the word hospital, several heads looked up, "I got some test results back." Here she paused, trying to keep herself from crying.

"Test results? What for?" Lucas asked, looking worried.

"I didn't want to, not until I was sure I knew what it was." She paused again, and taking another deep breath, she continued. "I've got breast cancer." There was a stunned silence while Cynthia waited until the news sank in.

"Well breast cancer can be treated now can't it? I mean they've had loads of major breakthroughs throughout the years, right?" Matt asked, in a small scared voice.

"That's the other thing I wanted to talk to you all about. I've made an important decision that's going to alter our lives. I'm not getting treatment." Cynthia looked round the room, gauging her family's reactions. 

"Well, if that's your decision, then we're right behind you all the way." Baz finally spoke up. There was a nodding of heads round the group, all except from Lucas, who had placed his head unto his hands and Amy, who looked like she couldn't care less.

"_I_ don't see what the fuss is about, why, we were dragged round half the country side, just to find that out. It was hardly worth it."

Lucas white, drained face snapped upright at this comment and was going to say something, when Matt stood up and intervened.

"MUM! How can you say something like that? I mean you have to be the worlds biggest _bitch_ to say that." Amy's face drained of colour at these words, coming from her _son_ and her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish. "In fact, I'm ashamed to even call you my mother!" With this, Amy stalked out the room, slamming the door behind her.

There was a deathly silence for what seemed like hours, but actually lasted a few minutes. Lucas finally broke the silence.

"Why didn't you tell us this before? Why wait till now?" Lucas sounded like he was going to break down and cry at any given second.

Cynthia walked over to where Lucas was sitting and, sitting on the chair's armrest, held Lucas gently in her arms.

"I didn't tell you earlier because I didn't want to hurt you and I didn't want to tell anyone until I knew for sure. It's all right; I know what I'm doing. I've made this decision on my own and because I want to, not because someone else has made it for me. I know you don't understand, honey, but I don't want you to, all I want you to do is to support my decision, OK?" Lucas just nodded his agreement, his voice and eyes chocked with tears, which were gently running down his face.

Baz gently squeezed Cynthia's shoulder as she gently rocked Lucas, who smiled back at Baz. Baz whispered,

"You can always count on me, you know that, don't you?"

Cynthia quietly replied,

"You always have done in the past, why should now be any different?"

***

One year later.

"NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" Matt screamed at the top of his lungs as he suddenly appeared in the kitchen and saw his mother lying on the floor in a pool of blood, with his half brother, Lucas lying next to her. There was more blood covering his mother's body, and Lucas was bleeding from a head wound. The blood had started to cover the kitchen floor rapidly. But there was no one to here him, the neighbours were out and the staff at their house had a day off. Matt stood frozen, staring at his mother's mutilated body, unable to take his eyes away before collapsing in a heap on the floor in a dead faint, banging his head painfully on the floor.


	2. The next chapter

Who is Matt and where does he come from? Well basically, when I wrote the story I hadn't actually figured out that part, so Matt was just there. So here I go to try and explain about Matt's past! Oh and if you're wondering about Lucas's father, well good old Lawrence does come into this chapter, so it's not all that dull and boring (I hope)!

Chapter 2 

"Ma…Com…o…Ma…Ma…Matt!" Matt shook at the thick fog engulfing his brain, trying to clear it a little. It worked and soon Matt was aware of a pair of eyes staring down at him. Matt screamed and began to struggle as he began to remember what had happened.

"NNNOOOOOOO!!!!! MUMMY!!!!!! I want mum and not Amy. I want Cynthia!" Matt cried.

"Matt, it's Ok. Everything's gonna be all right," Baz comforted him, holding him in a close hug. Matt's sobs gradually calmed down into nothing.

"Matt, you OK?" Baz asked. Matt just nodded, not wanting to answer.

"Where's Lucas? I want to see him." Matt finally said.

"Lucas has been hurt quite badly and I'm afraid he's still in x ray. He's gonna be OK, too. What happened, do you know?" Baz asked.

"I don't know. I just walked in and found them like that." Matt replied.

"In that case, only Lucas knows what happened. Poor kid, poor kid." Baz muttered.

****

In a private room, later that night, Lucas Wolenczak lay tossing and turning entrapped in a nightmare that he couldn't get out of.

_Flashback into the dream_.

Lucas came running down the stairs as happily as can be, but suddenly stops when he reaches the kitchen. He can hear angry voices, shouting at each other, both sound so familiar but Lucas just can't place where he's heard the voice before. One of the voices is of his and his step brother Matt's mum, the other is a male. The voices have stopped now and the radio has been switched on, very loudly. Then there was a huge thud, as something heavy hit the floor inside the kitchen.

'Mum must have dropped something, I've got to help her!' Lucas thought to himself as he reached towards the door handle.

 Closer and closer he drew nearer and nearer now. Twisting the silver sphere that was the door handle, and about the same height as his shoulder, Lucas opened the door and peeked in. Nothing, could prepare him for what he was about to see.

"Mummy?" Lucas cried in a hesitant voice, before looking around the kitchen in frozen shock.

There was blood everywhere, over the counter, the wooden stools, the kitchen floor, but the worst of this was on his beloved mother. That was the last thing he saw before he was knocked flying into the kitchen by a hand on his shoulder, knocking him into the counter, unconscious.

End Flashback.

"NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" Lucas cried out into the night. He awoke suddenly and looked around, suddenly scared. Curling up into a ball on his bed, Lucas cried himself back to sleep again till morning.

****

"Morning sleepy head!" A voice gently lulled Lucas out of his slumber.

"Mmm!" Lucas replied as he recognised the voice as Matt's.

Opening his eyes, he was surprised to be suddenly blinded by sunlight and immediately put up his hand to block the out sunlight. As Lucas's eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room, he noticed there were two policemen standing at the end of his hospital bed.

"Hey, it's OK," The voice had made Lucas jump, as he had only noticed the policemen. Turning his head slowly, he noticed Baz and Matt staring at him. "These policemen only want to ask you guys a few questions, but I need to be here because you're underage. OK?"

Lucas looked confused and asked,

"Why? I haven't done anything wrong have I?"

"No, it's about the murder, remember?" Baz told him.

"What murder? Who was it? What have I got to do with this?" Lucas asked, scared.

Everyone in the room looked at him, amazed.

"You mean you don't remember a thing?" One of the policemen asked him. Lucas just shook his head.

"Partial amnesia." Baz stated, "The doctor said he might have partial amnesia, that or the fact that it's so terrifying, that he doesn't want to remember."

"A repressed memory?" The same policemen questioned him.

"Yeah, something like that." Baz answered, stroking Lucas's hair in an attempt to calm him down.

"Who's dead? Who? Where's mum? I want my mummy!" Lucas looked small and scared. There was a deadly silence in the room, aside from Lucas's heavy breathing before Baz finally spoke up.

"I'm afraid it's your mum who's been murdered." Baz gently told him, his eyes filling up with tears for the first time since Cynthia had died.

"No, no, no, not mum. She can't be dead, she just can't be. She's not dead, you're just making it up, and I know you are." Lucas screamed, not wanting to believe his mother was dead.

"Listen to me, we're not just making it up. Do you think I'd really say something like that? Do ya'?" Lucas shook his head, sobs racking his entire body. "Come here, mate." Drawing Lucas closer, Baz rocked the kid until he was calm again.

"Do you mind if we start to question Matt, now?" The second policeman offered.

"No, go ahead." Baz confirmed, still holding Lucas who was still softly crying.

"OK Matt, where do you live?" Jimson, the first policemen asked him.

"Well, I live with Cynthia and my dad for six months, and then my real mum for six months, but my dad died three years ago and since then I've lived with Cynthia and Baz, and only seen my real mum every other fortnight." Matt replied.

"OK, so you're mum and your late father were divorced?" Jimson asked.

"Yes."

"And did your family and the Wolenczaks get along?"

"No, not at all. My family didn't agree with my dad's choice of a wife, but I liked her a lot." Matt answered.

"OK, so were they on speaking terms when Cynthia was murdered?" Jimson quizzed.

"Everyone, except my real mum." Matt said.

"And why was that?" Jimson looked puzzled.

"She was jealous, and she had a little falling out with the rest of the family because of something she said to Cynthia, after Cynthia told us she had breast cancer last year. I don't really want to go into details though." Matt said.

"That's fine, was Cynthia getting any threats or weird phone calls, just before her death?" Jimson asked.

"No, none that I knew of." Matt looked puzzled at this question.

"Did she have any enemies outside of the family?" Jimson quizzed.

"No." Matt looked a bit shaken now.

"Well, that's all for now. We may need to contact you again, so we will need to know, where will you be staying?"

Matt looked enquiringly at Baz, who answered.

"He'll be staying with Lucas and me, at the house when we're allowed to go back. But until then we'll be staying at a hotel around here." Baz answered for Matt.

"That'll be fine. Thank you for your help, we'll be in touch shortly." The second policemen, who had been busy writing down notes throughout the conversation, finally spoke up.

Baz and Matt watched the two policemen walk through the hospital door, before turning their attention to Lucas.

"You're so lucky you can't remember a thing!" Matt said to Lucas's pale form.

"Who can't remember a thing?" A voice boomed behind them. It was Lawrence.

"Lucas, he's got partial amnesia." Baz replied. Baz was suddenly nervous; he'd always felt like that around Lucas's father.

"Is he OK? I've been so worried, about him ever since I heard about the attack last night." Lawrence replied, placing his hand softly on top of Lucas's soft blonde hair. "I'm gonna take him home, when he's discharged. I mean, now that Cynthia's gone, I've got custody of Lucas, unless Cynthia's said otherwise, which I doubt it."

Baz just nodded in agreement.

"Look, if you ever need anyone to look after him, you've only got to ask. You do know that." Baz spoke up.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Lawrence said, smiling as he sat down in a vacant chair next to the bed. "I'll keep that in mind" He softly repeated so that only Lucas, who was now lying on the bed, could hear. A silence once again filled the room, before Baz remarked,

"Hey Matt, ya' wanna go get something to drink? Just to leave Lucas and his father to talk things over."

"Yeah sure, if I'm allowed." Matt meekly replied.

"Yeah, come on then." Baz said, flashing a grin at the father and son. "Do you two want anything to eat or drink?"

Lucas just shook his head, but Lawrence spoke up

"Actually I will have a cup of coffee, if you don't mind."

Baz just shook his head before taking Matt's hand and heading out the door, in the hospital room. When Baz had turned the corner Lawrence pounced on Lucas, like a cat would do to a mouse.

"Thought you could escape me that easily, did ya'?" Lawrence snarled at the trembling boy, "Well, I proved you wrong, you and that slut you called your mum. Yes, now that Cynthia is out of the picture, it's just you and me and do ya' remember what happened last time I had custody of you? Well, answer me, you worthless piece of shit. Do you?"

Lucas just squeezed his eyes closed tightly and nodded his head as visions of various beatings he had after being 'punished', knives being thrown across the room aiming for him, some even hitting and Lucas screaming in pain as a result of a direct hit.

"Yes, well things have changed since then, I've changed for the better. Well," Lawrence said chuckling, "Better for me anyway. Lucky for you, I'm going to be away for the next week, or maybe two…but until then, I'll be waiting. I've been waiting a long time for this day to come. A long time."

Just then Baz and Matt arrived with the coffee, saving Lucas for any further threats. For now.

"Oh thanks a lot. I can't stay for long, work calls, as usual." Lawrence lamely joked.

Baz just grunted in reply, his attention focused on the curled up ball on the bed that was Lucas. After five minutes of idle chat had passed, Lawrence announced that it was time to leave. He turned to Lucas and said in a friendly voice,

"Until next time, kiddo."

Lucas didn't respond in any way, he just stared at a vacant space on the wall, listening to the echoes of his mind,

'Until next time, until next time.' Only Lucas knew the full meaning of the threat, and what would happen, but even he could not know the full meaning till it was too late…


	3. The third Chapter

The next chapter of this ongoing story. 

Baz watched over the now sleeping form of Lucas, as if protecting him from an unknown enemy. He didn't like Lawrence very much, he had always felt almost scared of him from the first day Baz had met the famous Dr Wolenczak. Lucas and Matt were both fast asleep. Baz tilted his head onto the back of the chair and closed his eyes, as if in pain.

'Why did I agree to let Lucas stay at _his_ house?' Baz had a long kept suspicion of what Lawrence did to Lucas, but Baz knew that if he told anyone what he thought, Lawrence would ban him from seeing the kid again and Baz couldn't live with himself if anything happened to Lucas.

Just then a faint moan from Lucas caught his attention. Baz leaned forward and looked at Lucas, who moaned again and had now started to toss and turn in the hospital bed.

"Lucas, Lucas, wake up!" Baz gently whispered.

Lucas's only response was to thrash around even more, and make even more noise. Baz tried calling his name and holding both his hands to try and wake the youth up, but to no avail.

"No…No, please don't. Stop it, you're hurting her! Mummy, mummy, mummy! Nooooooooooooooo!" Lucas cried, before finally leaping up and into Baz's arms.

"Hey, it's ok. Ssshhh! You're safe now, no-one's gonna hurt ya'" Gradually Lucas's sobs slowed down enough for him to talk again.

"So what was that about? Do you wanna talk about it?" Baz comforted him. Lucas shook his head.

"I can't remember what the dream was about. It was a nice but then it turned nasty and horrible." Lucas stammered, still shaking.

"OK," Baz looked thoughtful as he laid Lucas back down on the bed again.

"Can you stay with me, just till I fall asleep?" Lucas meekly asked, looking at the covers as he did so.

"Yeah sure, kiddo. Do you want me to tell you a bedtime story?" Lucas looked at Baz in shock and amazement.  "No seriously. I used to do this all the time when you were little, you used to love it." Lucas looked doubtful, but didn't protest as Baz began his story.

"This is called the three little pigs, but this is the wolf's version. Now everyone thinks they knew the story of the three little pigs, and how the mean old wolf blew down their houses, etc but that is not how the real story went. The reporters, who came from the sun, got it all wrong (no change there then). You see the wolf was in his house baking a birthday cake for his dear old grandma. He had all the ingredients he needed- except some sugar. So the wolf thought to himself, 

'I know, I'll borrow some from my new neighbours, three little pigs, as the buses have stopped going into town now.'

So off he trots to the first little pig's house and says,

'Little pig, little pig, let me come in. I need to borrow some sugar to make a cake for my grandma's cake. Can you help me?'

The pig answered,

'Not by the hair of my chinney, chin-chin! And I hope your grandma sits on some pins.'

Now when the wolf heard this, he was outraged. 

'All I wanted was a cup of… ah…ah…achoo!' All of a sudden the house had disappeared. 'Drat that straw. I wish I wasn't allergic to it! Oh dear, what have I done?' The wolf said, in horror. He hadn't meant to blow down the house. Then the wolf thought to himself,

'Hang on, the pig is dead, so he wont mind if I borrow some of his sugar. Problem solved after all!' So the wolf collects the leftover sugar, and goes back to making his cake. Half and hour later, the wolf runs out of sugar again. So the wolf thought to himself, 

'I know, I'll borrow some from my new neighbours, the little pigs brother,'

So off he trots to the second little pig and says,

'Little pig, little pig, let me come in. I need to borrow some sugar to make a cake for my grandma's cake. Can you help me?'

The pig answered,

'Not by the hair of my chinney, chin-chin! And I hope your grandma sits on some pins.'

Now when the wolf heard this, he was outraged. 

'All I wanted was a cup of… ah…ah…achoo!' All of a sudden the house had disappeared. 'Drat that grass. I wish I wasn't allergic to it! Oh dear, what have I done?' The wolf said, in horror. He hadn't meant to blow down the second house, either. Unfortunately the second little pig had no sugar, so he trotted off to the third little pig's house, where the house was made up of brick.

'Little pig, little pig, let me come in. I need to borrow some sugar to make a cake for my grandma's cake. Can you help me?'

The pig answered,

'Not by the hair of my chinney, chin-chin! And I hope your grandma sits on some pins, I saw what you did to my brothers.' And with that, the pig shoved a load of pepper through the letterbox and onto the wolf.

The wolf once more was outraged and, before he could stop himself, he began to sneeze out of control. The third pig called the police about an out-of-control wolf and soon the papers and the police were here, so you can see it really wasn't the wolfs fault at all." Baz finished. 

Lucas was in hysterics at this point by the ridiculousness of the story and carried on laughing for five more minutes. After he had stopped laughing, Baz asked

"Do you think you're ready to go back to sleep now?" Lucas nodded his head and snuggled down underneath the covers and was soon fast asleep.

Baz smiled down on the sleeping child, before checking on Matt and falling asleep on the cot between the two beds.

****

The next morning Lucas woke refreshed from his sleep and found his doctor looking over him.

"Hey, wassup, doc?" Lucas joked.

"Oh, you're awake. It's half three, you've been asleep just under 32 hours." The Doctor replied, smiling. Lucas looked shocked. "But don't worry. It's normal for people with head injuries to sleep a long time, it shows they're getting better." Lucas just nodded; as the doctor finished shinning a torch in his eye and testing it's reaction. "Well, you're definitely looking a lot better. I think you might actually be allowed home today."

At the mention of the word home, Lucas started to panic as he remembered Lawrence's threat, but the doctor didn't seem to notice as he scribbled down notes on a clipboard and then left.

'No, don't wanna go home, don't wanna go home, he'll kill me if I do," Lucas thought, gently rocking backwards and forwards. 'He'll kill me, I know he will.'

****

Later that same day, Lucas's worst nightmare came true as he walked with Baz and Matt up the drive to his father's house. Lawrence lived in a lonely mansion on top of a massive hill that looked like it belonged in a horror movie. His father was silhouetted against a window waiting inside the house, watching for a moment to strike from his position. Just then the silhouette disappeared and out came Lawrence, smiling a deadly and dangerous smile.

"Thanks for taking care of him, I just couldn't get out of work in time." Lawrence said to Baz.

"Well I guess it's time for us to go home then." Baz crouched down, so he was about Lucas's height, "Well pal, if ya' ever need anything you know where I am." Baz whispered as he hugged Lucas goodbye.

"Yeah, see ya'. I'll miss you. Come back and visit us soon." Matt added, also hugging Lucas.

"Will do! Bye, I'm going to miss you too." Lucas added, nearly crying again. Lucas and Lawrence waved goodbye to Baz and Matt, as they headed down the driveway, stopping only once to wave goodbye again. Lucas watched them go, with a tear in his eye,

"Get your stuff inside, quickly!" Lawrence was calm at the moment, but Lucas knew that was only a show on the outside. Lucas meekly obeyed and, dragging his luggage into the house, Lucas was surprised to find himself fly into the wall by a blow from Lawrence.

"You're worthless, did you know that?" Lucas nodded as he felt himself being lifted by his neck and up the wall. Lucas was struggling to breathe, due to the enormous pressure exhorted by Lawrence's fist and the wall. At last, Lawrence let his grip slacken and he headed off to the kitchen. Lucas gathered his breathe, before grabbing his luggage and bounding up the stairs two at a time, into his tiny room. Lucas collapsed on the bed, feeling dizzy again from the strangulation he had received. He was so busy concentrating on his breathing, that he didn't hear his door open and close until it was too late and Lawrence had pounced on Lucas, a gun in one hand. He began to scream terrified at what was going to happen to him.

"Scream all you like, there's no neighbours to hear you." Lawrence shouted, his face red with anger as Lucas struggled to get away from Lawrence and the bed.

"Get off me, get off me, please!" Lucas begged, but all that earned him was a punch from the hand, which held the gun.

Lucas cried out in pain, as the gun connected with the side of his face. Lawrence hit him again with the pistol, but this time on his ribs. Lucas felt one of his ribs break as he screamed with agonising pain. Lucas stopped struggling, as it was just provoking his father to hit him even more. Lawrence was pleased with the result and began to smile a deadly smile.

"See, that wasn't too hard was it?" Lawrence asked in a patronising voice.

Lucas just shook his head. Lawrence suddenly leaned across Lucas's bed and grabbed his pillow. Suddenly Lawrence pushed the pillow over the nine-year-olds face, gently suffocating him.

"See what happens when you leave me all on my own? I get worse and worse. I really did miss you Lucas, but now I'm getting quite bored of having you around and you see, I really don't know what to do with you, except…" Here Lawrence paused, and pretended to think. "… To kill you." 

Lucas's heart was in his mouth; surely his father wasn't about to kill him. Lucas started to scream into the pillow and struggle afresh as he saw the gun press painfully against the side of his head.

'Please don't kill me, please don't kill me, please don't kill me,' Lucas's plea went unheard as he heard the cocking of the safety on the gun. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and prayed a silent prayer. After a few seconds of nothing happening, Lucas let out his breath as the gun was removed from the side of his head. Then the pillow was removed, leaving Lucas gasping for breath, his mouth wide open. Lawrence didn't hesitate and quickly put the gun in his son's mouth, before he realised what was happening and put the pillow over the top of the gun.

"All I gotta do is pull the trigger, and you'll be no more. No more Lucas Wolenczak, not like many people would notice a little screw up like you anyway. You made my life hell, ever since you were born you messed things up for us and nothing has changed. You were worthless then and you're a worthless son of a bitch now."

There was a pause, as Lucas saw black dots form before his eyes.

"Shall I kill you, or not? Hmmmmm, I don't know about just yet. Maybe later." Lawrence suddenly pulled back the pillow and put the gun in his waist belt, after latching on the safety first.

"You were lucky this time. But next time you mess up, I swear I'm gonna shoot you first and ask questions later. If there is a later, that is." With that Lawrence left the room, leaving Lucas crying on the bed.


	4. The forth Chapter

For the next week after that first incident, Lucas crept around the house not daring to make any loud sounds that would set off his father again. Lucas had even stopped eating a lot, to make his father happy. Soon Lucas had dark circles under his eyes, where he couldn't sleep on his bed and had moved onto the floor, for all the nightmares he was having. He was so skinny that you could see his skeleton bones if you looked carefully. Also his broken rib was hurting him a lot, but Lucas knew Lawrence would kill him if he said something.

Lucas was growing bored around the house, his father had gone out that day and Lucas had finally got some more food for his secret supply, he never knew when he might need it. He had already e-mailed Baz and Matt to say that he was fine, and enjoying himself and had also spoken to a couple of his friends that were online, but that was hours ago and Lucas had just watched TV after that. Just then the sound of his fathers car pulling up to the drive made Lucas jump, as he quickly dashed to the door to greet his father. Opening the door, he was surprised to see a woman was with his father.

The woman had brown hair, with clashing orange and blonde streaks running through her hair. She wore a short skirt, and a short top, that matched and had long hoped earrings. With her, came a strong scent of perfume, which smelled awful. Lucas had to wrinkle up his nose, to stop himself sneezing.

"Is this your son? Ah! How cute!" The woman spoke to him in a patronising voice, which annoyed Lucas to the high heavens.

"Yes, this is Lucas. Lucas this is Leanne, my girlfriend." Lawrence pretended to look proud of his son, while Lucas shook hands with the woman.

"Shall we go inside, then? I can't wait to see your room," Leanne hinted to Lawrence.

"Well, I'm sure Lucas is more than capable of handling the food, right?" Lucas just nodded his head, "Well, maybe I can give you a 'guided tour' of the house" Lawrence said, before kissing Leanne long and hard. The couple moved inside the house, and disappeared upstairs. Lucas sighed and started to unpack the food shopping.

****

The next day Lucas awoke on the floor, to find Lawrence staring at him from the bed. Lucas started to tremble again. Lawrence didn't do anything; he just stared at Lucas a little while longer before saying, 

"You remember Leanne?"

Lucas nodded.

"Well, I asked her to marry me and she said yes, so from now on, she's your new mother. No questions asked, got it?"

The nine-year-old just looked at his father in shock at what his father had just asked him to do.

"No, I wont." Lucas said, trying to sound confident.

"What did you just say to me?" Lawrence's face had turned bright red in anger and his eyes had turned into slits, as Lucas backed up into the smallest corner he could find. "Big mistake. The wedding's today and looks like you can't make it. And you know what? Leanne has gone into town to look for a wedding dress and she wont get back here until we get back from our honeymoon in three weeks time. So that leaves you and me in the house alone, and do you remember what happened last time? Well let me refresh your memory." With this he dragged Lucas kicking and screaming out of his room, and down the stairs. Lucas tried to stall his journey, but this just made Lawrence madder still.

Lawrence didn't stop dragging Lucas until they had reached the top of the basement stairs. Lucas really began to scream now; the basement hadn't even got a working light and had hard, concrete stairs, which led to a small concrete room that always had a draft. Lawrence had often taken Lucas down there, when he was younger to be 'punished'. 

"No, don't leave me, please. Somebody help me!" Lucas screamed.

"Three weeks remember, don't get too bored while I'm away." Tired of Lucas's screams, he kicked Lucas on the back, so he went tumbling down the flight of concrete stairs and landed at the bottom, painfully knocking his head.

****

Lucas awoke, feeling cold and all alone. He suddenly remembered all that had happened and backed into a corner, looking for a sign if his abuser had come into the basement and was there, waiting for him. After making sure there was no one down there, Lucas buried his face in his knees and began to cry.

****

Three weeks later.

Lucas was still in the basement and was now ravenously hungry and very thirsty. He was floating in and out of consciousness and was feeling very dizzy. He had grown used to the dimness of his concrete prison a long time ago, and had stopped looking for any means of escape after a week had past. There was no one around on the outside world to hear his screams, not even the postman. 

'Lawrence must have told the post man he wasn't going to be here and not to come up here.' Lucas thought gruffly to himself.

The high pitched squeaking had started again, but Lucas had grown used to living with the rats and the mice a long time ago for this wasn't the first time he had been shut down in the basement and Lucas doubted it would be his last time either. Just then Lucas thought he could vaguely heard the sound of a car pulling up to the driveway. Lucas thought he would never be so glad to hear that sound, but he was. There was the sound of two car doors slamming, followed by two pairs of footsteps travelling to the door. That was the last thing he heard, before he drifted into unconsciousness.

****

"Lu…. Up… Luc… Luca…Lucas. Wake up!" Lucas gradually woke up to the sound of a familiar female voice calling his name. Frowning, Lucas shook his head before he was finally able to open his eyes and croak,

"Water, please."

A cup was then passed to Lucas, which he gratefully sipped, letting the cool liquid slip down his aching throat slowly. He looked around the room and saw Lawrence and Leanne standing over him. Lucas shrank away when he saw his father, but neither of them spoke a word to each other.

"How did you get trapped down in the basement anyway? Did the door slam on you while you were down there?" Leanne asked in a patronising voice.

Lucas just nodded his head at the threatening look that Lawrence gave him, behind Leanne's back. Coldly Leanne said,

"Well, I hope you learnt your lesson from that. Don't play down in the basement."

Lawrence looked at her in amazement as he realised something about Leanne.

"You mean you don't like kids?" Lawrence asked.

"Nah can't stand 'em. An useless waste of space if you ask me." Leanne gave Lucas a nasty look.

Lawrence just looked smugly and Lucas realised that his whole world had gone down hill. If things were bad before, then they had only just started to get worse.

****

The next day.

"So do you want a cigarette, honey?" Leanne asked.

"Yeah sure." Lawrence replied.

Leanne, Lawrence and Lucas were in the sitting room, watching the football at his father's request. Lucas was just trying to not get noticed by sitting in the corner farthest away from Leanne and his father, who were sitting in a chair together. Leanne got up and got two cigars, followed by two cans of beer. Lucas watched the couple as they drank and smoked, he was worried by the amount of beers they had drunk already. There were eight cans lying around the living room and when Lawrence drank, he got even more aggressive Lucas knew _that_ from experience.

"Lucas, come 'ere, would ya'?" Lawrence slurred.

Lucas obeyed at once.

"AAAAHHHHHHHH! Isn't he obedient?" Leanne cooed.

"Yeah, years of training that took." The couple laughed at Lucas's expense. "Watch this, Lucas hold out your arm."

Lucas, nearly trembling with fear and coughing from the smoke inhalation, did as he was told. He closed his eyes shut tightly, and the next thing he could feel was a burning sensation in his outstretched hand.

"Ouch!" Lucas cried and opened his eyes in time to see his father's cigarette being pulled away from his arm. Leanne laughed as if it were all some kind of a joke. All of a sudden, Lawrence stood up, grabbed his son's arm and pulled it behind his back. Lucas cried out in pain, but either Leanne or Lawrence seemed to notice or care. Next, Leanne suddenly tripped the boy, so he landed flat on his face on the carpet while Lawrence pinned him down with his legs and arms.

"Belt or shoe?" Lawrence hissed at his son.

"Shoe," Lucas decided, before closing his eyes.

Lucas cried out every time the shoe hit his back, head and legs, leaving Lucas little choice but to start openly crying. Leanne laughed even harder from her position on the chair, before she too joined in hitting the helpless boy with Lawrence's belt. After they grew tired of their 'game', they left Lucas alone on the floor while they went up to tend to other business.

'Why me? Why me? Why me?' Lucas cried into the carpet, before falling asleep with the TV still blaring away in the background.

TBC…


	5. The fifth Chapter

Chapter five

Lucas painfully got up from his position on the floor. His whole body was aching and he couldn't stop shaking, no matter how hard he tried. Tears flooded down his face, but still Lucas didn't make a sound. With renewed energy, Lucas suddenly stood up slowly, his body protesting. Looking around the room, Lucas saw the mess that Leanne and Lawrence had made with the cans and the cigarettes and he paled for he knew just who was going to get the blame for their mess. Hurrying around as fast as he could, (which wasn't very fast at all) the boy quickly tidied up the room, making sure it was spotlessly clean. He eventually finished as his father came down the stairs and into the room.

"Well, you've finally done something useful in your life. Well done." Lawrence was smiling his evil smile as he turned to leave. "Oh and by the way, we're not going to be here for the next couple of days, we're visiting some friends but if you're good, then you can stay in the house, if not you're in the basement again." With that Lawrence left the room.

Lucas felt like he was going to cry again, but resisted the urge. It would only set his father off again, and who knows what might happen to him if he did. Lucas lay down on the sofa and soon drifted into a dreamless sleep.

****

Lucas was so fast asleep that he didn't hear Lawrence call his name to tell him they were leaving, nor did he hear his father storm into the room until he had picked the youth up and thrown him across the room. Lucas cried out in pain, as his broken body hit the wall with a tremendous thud.

"When I call your name, even whisper it, I want you to come running. Get it?" Lucas nodded, scared out of his wits. "Good I hope so, for your sake," Lawrence concluded.

Lawrence headed towards the door and as he moved past Lucas, he suddenly hit the unoffending youth, making him fall out of the chair and onto the floor. With that, Lawrence left the house, leaving Lucas too scared to even move.

****

It had been quiet without Lawrence around for a few days, and Lucas had spent the time cleaning the house. It was a big house and it had five floors, including the attic and the basement. As Lucas explored for more hiding places, he was in awe of how big the place really was. His father had moved after his parents divorce, but Lucas had been there a couple of times when his mother was alive.

'Well at least I get to roam around the whole house, instead of just the basement,' Lucas thought grimly to himself.

Just then Lucas heard the sound of a front door slamming,

'Uh oh, they must have come back early,' Lucas thought as he dashed down the stairs as quick as his little legs could carry him. Then Lucas thought he could hear a familiar voice. Now sitting on the stairs, Lucas could just make out a figure of a man, talking with his father. The figure looked familiar, but as he had his back turned to Lucas, he couldn't quite see who it was.

"…He's not going, and that's final." Lawrence shouted.

"Why not?" The mystery man shouted.

"We're going out, aren't we, Lucas?" Lawrence said smugly, catching sight of the youth on the stairs. Lucas just nodded his head and the second man turned his head to face Lucas. It was Baz.

"Baz!" Lucas yelled, running pall-mall down the stairs, to greet his friend.

"Hello, kiddo!" Baz cried, picking the boy up and swinging him round. Lucas's face had lit up completely. "How've you been?"

"Good, did you get that e-mail I sent you? How's Matt is he OK? Are you OK?" Lucas gasped.

"Whoa, slow down there. Yes, I got the e-mail, and Matt and me are just fine. We're missing you, though." Baz smiled.

"I miss you, too." Lucas added, giving Baz a hug.

"You should come us and visit soon, I'm sure it'll cheer Matt up loads. He's a bit down in the dumps at the moment." Baz explained.

Lucas looked thoughtful for a moment, before saying,

"I know! I'll e-mail him a card. That should cheer him up." Lucas looked hopeful.

"Well you go and do that, while I chat to your father for a sec, ok?"

Lucas nodded his head, and ran off to the lounge, where the computer was. As he booted up the computer, Lucas listened to what Lawrence and Baz were talking about.

"…It's on next Friday, so that gives you nine days until you and Lucas's presence is required. I'll expect to see you both there." Baz sounded very official.

"Yeah ok. You win, as usual." Lawrence said in a dejected voice.

Baz left, slamming the door on the way out. Lawrence marched into the kitchen, where Lucas was happily setting up the computer.

"All right. I've had it with you."

Lucas looked up sharply at this comment, wondering what his father had planned for him. Lucas started to back away from the computer and ran into the hallway, to get away from whatever his father was planning, only to run straight into Leanne.

"AH! You little wretch! You hurt me. Wait until I tell your father about this, _he'll_ know what to do with you." Leanne grabbed the boy by the scruff of his shirt, and dragged him into the kitchen. Lawrence turned around, furious.

"What's he done now?"

"He just ran into me, from out of nowhere and he really hurt my arm _and_ he lathered my tights." Leanne explained, tears in her eyes.

"Oh really, we can't let you get away with that now, can we?" Lawrence said, with an evil gleam in his eye.

"No, we certainly can't. Oh. I'm going to have to change my tights now." With that Leanne stormed out of the room, in a huff.

"Well, well, well. Couldn't even stay out of trouble for one day." Lucas didn't even have a chance to duck the first punch, before it hit him, square in the stomach, making Lucas bend over in agony. Pulling Lucas up by his hair, Lawrence punched his son again, but this time he made sure that Lucas couldn't duck away. Lawrence continued to punch and kick the boy, until he was sure there wasn't a bone in his body that hadn't been kicked, and then dropped Lucas roughly onto the floor.

"I hope you've learned you're lesson, _son_." Lawrence laughed at the state of his son, lying on the floor before Leanne came in and announced it was time to go.

"Leave him alone, we'll miss our reservations. We can finish with him _together_, but when we get back." Leanne put her arms around Lawrence's waist and they both left, locking the front door behind them. Lucas meanwhile, fainted due to the amount of the pain he was in.

****

When Lucas awoke, it was just getting dark so he figured that he had been unconscious for a couple of hours at least.

"That's it, I've had enough. I can't take it any more." Lucas screamed to no one in particular. Getting up slowly, Lucas made a decision to run away. He headed out of the kitchen and through the hallway; there he unlocked the front door to freedom.

TBC…

Hopefully I should get the next chapter up and running soon, but until then… 


	6. The sixth Chapter More about Baz and Mat...

Chapter 6- More about Baz and Matt.

Baz sat down heavily in his chair, and put his head in his hands.

'Why? Why do I keep letting him go back to him? Why? Why?' Baz was, of course referring to Lucas. 'I know what he does to Lucas, so why?' Baz gently cried to himself.

'Because you need more proof,' the little voice in the back of his head said.

Just then the door slammed shut, and Matt bounded into the room. Baz quickly stood up and wiped away his tears.

"Hey Baz, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Matt asked

"No, I'm not." Baz replied defensively.

"Yes you are, I can see the tears on your face." Baz quickly turned away and wiped them dry.

Matt walked round to the front of Baz and put his arms round his waist, Baz just hugged him back, gently rocking them both backwards and forwards.

"I miss him, too." Matt whispered.

"I went to visit his father today and I saw him. He looked pleased to see me, that's for sure and he said that misses us both." Baz remembered.

"You saw Lucas? How is he?" Matt looked excited.

"He's fine," Baz smiled. "Come on, it's bed time."

"Oh do I have to?" Matt wined.

"Yes, you do. Now hurry up, I'm going to bed in a minute as well. Go, go." Baz urged Matt. Matt got as far as the door before asking,

"When's mum coming back from holiday?"

"I don't know, she said she'll call me when she arrived at the airport, ok. Now go on up to bed." Baz repeated.

Matt just smiled and did as he was told. Baz just collapsed heavily on the chair again, thinking about Lucas and his deadliest secret, that only Lawrence knew.

'Oh god. What a mess.' Baz thought.

'Well, if Lawrence hadn't found out your little secret, then you wouldn't hesitate in going to the police would you. But _your_ too scared that _he's_ going to tell your 'little secret' to Lucas and Lucas wouldn't even want to know you after you told him.' It was the little voice of reason again, before Baz fell fast asleep.

****

Meanwhile, Lucas was still struggling to reach the safety of Baz's house, before his father found out he was gone. Baz's house was five miles away.

'Oh my god. Why did I run away? He's going to kill me. I should turn back now and pretend that nothing ever happened. No, wait a minute; he was going to kill me when he came back anyway. Looks like I'm dead, whatever I do.' Lucas thought grimly as he walked along a grassy embankment, near a busy road.

Lucas had thought it was a good idea running away, but now he wasn't so sure.

'Oh well, the damage is done now. I'm just gonna have to go through with it,' Lucas thought as he tried to thumb for a lift.

Just then Lucas saw a car pull over, at his request. Grateful, Lucas hobbled over to the car.

"Where are you off to, honey?" The woman asked. She had brown hair, and green eyes and wore some jeans and a baggy t-shirt. She seemed nice and was very pretty, Lucas thought. There was another guy driving the car, he had jet-black hair, and blue eyes. He scared Lucas a bit because he had lots of muscles like his father, but he too seemed nice enough so Lucas replied,

"I'm going into town, to visit my friend and my half brother." Well, it wasn't exactly a lie.

"What about your parents? Do they know you're out here hitchhiking?" The woman asked.

Lucas shook his head.

"My mums not around, and my dad's supposed to be looking after me, and he's…. Well…Not available."

"Oh, that is a shame, dear. Well, I'm really sorry, but we aren't going that way. Good luck in getting to your family. Bye" With that the car started to drive slowly away from the heartbroken Lucas. 

Lucas turned his head to the ongoing cars and his heart nearly stopped. There was his father's car, coming straight towards him. Lucas screamed and tried to run away, but his father leapt out of the car and gave chase to the boy. Lucas, being young and badly injured, couldn't run very fast and was soon caught by his father.

"Don't hurt me! I'm sorry I wont do it again, I swear. It won't happen again. I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm sorry." Lucas cried.

"Your right, it won't happen again," Lawrence said, as he hit the unoffending youth, again and again.

Leanne came running out of the car, shouting

"Don't, there's too many witnesses!"

But Lawrence didn't hear, all of his concentration was on hitting the youth, as he pleaded to his father to stop. Just then a hand suddenly grabbed Lawrence's hand and stopping him from hitting the boy any more. Lawrence turned around, infuriated to face his unknown enemy. It was the man that was in the car that had almost picked him up hitchhiking a few seconds ago. The woman ran to where Lucas was now curled up in a ball, unconscious as she hugged him. The two men fought behind her and in the end it was the mystery man that won, knocking Lawrence out with a well-aimed punch to his opponents face.

"How is he, Mandy?" The man asked.

"I don't know, Bob." Mandy replied, as she tried to comfort the unconscious boy.

"How can anyone do that to a child?" Bob was clearly mad.

"Maybe if he wasn't such a brat, that might help," Leanne spoke up.

Bob turned around sharply, he had forgotten about Leanne. Mandy motioned to the boy. Bob took over from holding Lucas, while Mandy marched up to Leanne and hit her. She was out cold, and Mandy shouted down at her,

"That's what _I_ think of child abusers!"

Mandy then turned her attention to her husband Bob and the shaking child, wondering what to do. Bob, seeing was Mandy lost at what to do, and suggested,

"Well, we can't just leave these two her, we've got to get them to the police, and this young 'un down to the hospital. I think I may have some rope in the back of the car that I use for the dogs."

Mandy turned herself towards the car to get the rope, when she heard Bob gasp in shock.

"Mandy, are you hurt? You're bleeding."

Mandy turned to look at her jeans and saw a patch of blood there,

"No, neither of them touched me, but the kid." Mandy gasped. "You don't think…"

"There's only one way to find out. You examine this chap, while I get the rope and make sure they don't surprise us." Bob was scared and all of the blood had drained out of his face.

Mandy rushed to Lucas's side and turned him over to examine him. She gasped in shock when she saw that he had a huge patch of blood that was soaking his t-shirt rather rapidly. They had both been too busy concentrating on the abusers to take a long look at the victim. Mandy looked around, tears in her eyes, when all of a sudden a flash of light near the unconscious man's body suddenly blinded her. Curiosity got the better of her and she crept towards the shiny object, she gasped and collapsed in tears as she registered what the object was, it was a knife.

"Mandy! What's wrong?" Bob replied, appearing next to her with some rope in his hands. Mandy didn't say anything; she just pointed her finger at the knife.

"No, no. They wouldn't, no-one would be that mean to a child that young, would they?" Bob stammered, shaking his head in denial. The blood on the knife, however, spoke for itself.

"Poor kid, poor kid," Mandy muttered, as she moved towards the boy and gently stroked his hair. "Poor kid."

Bob quickly tied the pair on the ground up. 

'Where ever did a couple like this get such a sweet looking kid from?' Bob wondered, before he gently lifted Lucas into the van. Mandy decided she would drive their car to the hospital, while Bob called the police on his mobile and waited for the unconscious pair to be picked up. Bob waved goodbye to the car and set about to watch the two prisoners.

TBC

Ya' didn't think I'd let Lucas off that easily did ya' J Oh and by the way, Baz isn't schizophrenic, he's just arguing out the reasons why he let Lucas go, honest!


	7. The Seventh Chapter

Chapter seven

"Can somebody help us, please?" Mandy shouted out to the staff in the hospital. The staff, seeing her predicament, rushed forward to help Lucas.

"What happened, do you know?" A doctor asked.

"Someone stabbed him." Mandy explained.

"What's his name?" The same doctor asked,

"I don't know, we just saw him being attacked on the side of a road and rushed to help him. We didn't know he'd been stabbed until later on. Please, can you help him?" Mandy begged.

"Is there any form of ID on him?"

"I don't know, we haven't looked. Please, can you help him?" Mandy was nearly crying.

"We'll do our best, ma'am." The doctor said, as he lifted Lucas onto a trolley and wheeled him away.

A nurse gently asked Mandy if she could wait in the visitor's room, to which she agreed. In the visitor's room, Mandy was questioned profoundly as to the mystery boy's condition when she found him and how she had met him.

Meanwhile, after taking Lucas into intensive care, a nurse made a discovery about the mystery boy.

"He's name's Lucas, and he is nine years old, according to his wallet. It's even got a contact number inside." The nurse told the doctor in charge.

"Nine years old? He looks barely six! Poor kid. Give his details in at the reception desk, porter." The doctor sternly ordered to which the porter, who had helped wheel in the patient, immediately obeyed.

"Okay people, lets get to work. Lets keep him alive." The doctor ordered.

****

Baz was suddenly awakened by the sound of the telephone ringing. Jumping in fright, Baz started to get up to answer it. Trudging his way to the hall, where the phone was located, Baz noticed that there was a note from Matt cello taped to the side of the phone. Raising an eyebrow in surprise, Baz quickly scanned the letter. It said that Matt had gone out roller blading with his friends; Baz just rolled his eyes before answering the call.

"39571, this is Baz speaking." Baz spoke sleepily.

"Hello, is this Baz Sunderland?" A woman, who he had never seen before, asked. Baz just nodded his head.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. Do you know of a Lucas W…Woollen…chat?" Baz nodded again, his hand clutching the phone so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"Well I'm afraid he was injured as a result of a conflict, and is now at the Buffalo County Hospital, after he was picked up by a couple on the side of a road. We need to know a few more details, can you come down here now, please?"

"Is he gonna be OK? What happened? Who attacked him? Where's his father? He's the one that's supposed to be looking after him. Have you contacted him, yet?" Baz was shaking quite badly now.

The receptionist looked down before saying.

"You have to come down and fill out these forms, it's a matter of great urgency," before she disconnected the call.

Baz sat down in shock. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard. Not Lucas. Not _his_ Lucas, it couldn't be, but Baz knew that it was Lucas who had been hurt and Baz had more than a suspicion as to who had hurt him. Lawrence Wolenczak. Quickly, Baz wrote Matt a note to say where he was going and to stay with a neighbour until he got back, before scurrying out the front door.

****

When Baz got to the hospital, he got a strange feeling of déjà vu, before he marched up to the same receptionist he had spoken to on the phone.

"Hi, you just called me about Lucas how is he? Can I go and see him?" Baz asked.

"Lucas is still in intensive care, but I can't tell you any more than that. If you wait in the relatives' room, over there and fill out this form please, I can get a doctor to give you more details about his condition." The receptionist replied, giving Baz a clipboard, a pen and a form.

Baz thanked the lady, before heading into the relative's room. When he got there, he noticed there was someone else in there already.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't realise there was anybody in here," Baz apologised, as he startled the woman already in the room. "My name's Baz what's yours?"

"Mandy." Mandy replied, staring into her coffee and not really paying attention to anything in particular.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Baz asked.

"No, go ahead. No one's sitting there anyway." Mandy replied, snapping out of her daze. "Where are my manners? Dear me!" Mandy stared to clear a seat next to her, "Here you go, sit here."

"Thank you," Baz replied earnestly. The pair sat in silence for a minute before Mandy spoke.

"You know, you look awfully familiar, have we met before?"

Baz frowned, as he looked up from the paper work and answered.

"No, I don't think we have."

"Oh, you just look familiar, that's all," Mandy replied. "Oh well, maybe it will come to me later on."

Silence elapsed in the room, before Mandy suddenly surprised Baz by leaning her head forward and started to shake uncontrollably. Baz did the only thing he could think of. He put his arm around the woman and comforted her, it was then he realised she was crying.

"I'm sorry, I don't usually do this," Mandy stammered, after she had calmed down a bit.

"Well, it's not everyday you're in a hospital is it?" Baz comforted her.

"I know, but before today I didn't even know the kid even existed. And now, I'm waiting for news about his condition. It brings back so many memories." Mandy sobbed.

"Kid? He hadn't got sandy, brown hair, wearing jeans, t shirt and a pullover was he?" Baz asked, his hands trembling.

"Yes, as a matter of fact he was. I think the nurse said his name was Lucas. How did you know? Do you know him?" Mandy watched as Baz got up and paced round the room, running his hands through his hair, before he sat down again.

"Yes, he's the reason I'm here now." Baz's hands were shaking. "What happened to him? The receptionist wouldn't say."

So Mandy told Baz the story of how they had almost picked Lucas up hitchhiking before a man attacked him and how they rushed to help him. Baz leaned forward when Mandy told him about the man.

"This man, what did he look like? Can you describe him, please?" His heart was beating so loud, that he was scared that Mandy would hear it.

"Yes, he had brown hair, quite tanned, like he'd been on holiday recently, wearing shorts and a t shirt that said…"

"…I've been to Hawaii and back," Baz finished.

"You know him, then?" Mandy questioned.

"Yes, he's the boy's father. It's complicated, you see Lucas's mum and dad got divorced and his mum got custody with Lucas, but she remarried and her husband died a while back. Anyway, I was his mother's closest friend and I moved in with her to help Lucas and Matt get over his death. Oh yeah, Matt's Lucas's half brother, by the way…"

"I'm going to see my friend and my half brother," Mandy muttered,

"What?" Baz was clearly confused.

"That's what he said, when I asked him where he was going. He said I'm going to see my friend and my half brother." Mandy explained.

"But my house is over five miles away from where he was staying, where was he when you found him?" Baz asked, dreading the answer.

"He was walking along the side of the motorway, near Maples Way, *" Mandy said.

"Oh my god, he walked three miles. Jesus Christ."

"He had a limp and quite a bad one too, that's why I wanted to ask where he was going. If I knew how far he'd walked, I would've given him a lift. Poor kid." Mandy murmured.

"He had a limp? But when I saw him earlier that same day, he was walking fine. He even ran down the stairs." Baz laughed slightly at the memory.

"Then his father must have done it?" Mandy questioned, hoping she had got it wrong.

"Yeah, I wouldn't put it past him." Baz muttered.

" 'Wouldn't put it past him?' Does that mean that his father's done something like this before? And you haven't done anything about it?" Mandy's voice rose in anger.

"I _can't _do anything about it." Baz looked out the window, wishing he hadn't said what he had.

"What do you mean you can't? Why not? How long have you known?"

"I've known ever since his mother told me, and _I_ was the one who made her divorce him." Baz was nearly shouting, but then he sobered up a little. "She didn't want to divorce him, she was too afraid that he would find her and Lucas, but I persuaded her. If I hadn't, she would've still been living with him."

"How come Lucas is still with him now, then? I thought you said his mother got custody?" Mandy was puzzled, now.

"She did, but now Lucas has no choice _but_ to live with him." Tears welled up in Baz's eyes. "I didn't want it to happen that way, but it did."

"Couldn't you have gone to the police or social services?" Mandy asked.

Baz shook his head violently.

"No way. Lucas's father, Lawrence, found out something about me, that I don't want anyone else to know and if I do anything, then he's gonna tell Lucas and Lucas will never trust me, or even talk to me again. I try to be there for him whenever I can, but there's not a day gone by that I don't regret sending Lucas back there. But I really don't want to lose Lucas," All his emotions had been kept bottled up for so long now that Baz started to cry, while Mandy comforted him.

"What secret could be so bad that you keep on sending him back to that place? Isn't that blackmail?" Mandy asked.

Baz just remained quiet, Mandy didn't seem too bad but he still couldn't trust her yet.

"Fine be like that." Mandy said.

Just then the door opened, and a doctor entered. Baz looked up and asked,

"How is he doctor?"

"He's not good. His condition is very unstable, at the moment. He's been very badly injured, even before the stabbing, and he sustained three broken ribs, his leg is sprained, he was very badly under nourished, and there are bruises and welts all over his body. This boy has been very badly abused over a long period of time."

Baz looked down at this piece of news, while Mandy glared daggers at him.

"The trouble is I just don't know how bad the abuse was, and so I'm not sure how it's going to effect him, psychologically I mean." 

Baz looked pale at this news.

"If it was really bad, how would that affect him?" Baz asked, looking up and dreading the answer.

"If it was bad, then it might be enough to tip him over the edge. I'm not sure how he's going to react, mentally." The doctor sighed. "Do you know who the man that attacked Master Wolenczak was?"

Baz replied, still looking down,

"I'm not sure."

The doctor talked for a few more minutes about Lucas's condition, before leaving them alone.

"There are you happy now? Lucas is seriously ill… And… And you were so worried about one secret, you let this boy, this sweet innocent little boy, get hurt, stabbed by this monster that's his father. Why? For one secret that probably wouldn't compare to half of what that boy has been through. If you were really his friend, why would you let him go back?" Mandy screamed at him.

"Look, Lucas wouldn't even _talk_ to me, if he found out a…" Baz began,

"It's all about you, you, you. Didn't you hear the doctor? _Bruises and welts_ _all over_ _his body_? If Lucas means _anything_ to you, I would tell him your secret." Mandy tried to mentally calm down.

"I made a promise to his mother, before she died, that I wouldn't tell _anyone_, including Lucas. Now his mother's dead, I…" Baz shouted,

Mandy looked up sharply,

"His mother's dead?"

"Yes, and ever since he went back, I've been trying to gain custody of him in every way under the sun. Heaven knows I've tried, but Lawrence is just too powerful." Baz was nearly in tears now.

Mandy gently asked him,

"What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know, I really don't know." Baz started crying now, but wouldn't let Mandy touch him.

TBC.

Sorry this part took so long to get done, I had a lot to get done. But the next chapter should be more interesting, I hope, with a lot more Lucas in it!


	8. This one's V short, but the next one sho...

Sorry this chapter has taken so long, (and the length) I've had too much coursework and concerts, so I haven't had time lately. The next part SHOULD be up relatively quickly, but that's what I thought about this chapter! Enjoy!

Chapter eight.

Half an hour later…

Bob burst in the waiting room, looking very flustered.

"How is he?"

"He's very badly wounded, and he's on the critical list. We're waiting for the doctor to tell us weather he's out of surgery yet, and for any update on his condition from the doctor any minute now." Mandy replied. Bob nodded at Baz, who was sitting down staring into his coffee, and mouthed 

'Who's he?'

"Oh dear, I haven't introduced you two yet have I?" It was Mandy's turn to look flustered. "Baz, this is Bob, my husband. Baz a friend of the boys family." The pair shook hands, Baz looked dazed as if he was in shock. "The boys name is Lucas, by the way."

"Lucas? That's a nice name." Bob spoke up. "Baz, how did Lucas get to be with that guy in the first place?"

"That monster is his father, and it's all my fault he's in this position now. If only… If only…" Baz looked as if he was going to cry again, but he restrained himself.

"His father? They don't look anything like each other. You look more like Lucas, than that…" Bob barely managed to restrain himself.

Mandy looked more closely at Baz now, and suddenly cried out

"That's who you remind me of! Lucas! How come you two look so alike?"

Baz was saved to answering by the entrance of the doctor.

"Doctor, how is he? Did he make it through surgery? What happened?" Baz asked, jumping up from his chair.

"He made it through surgery, but he is still seriously ill. Also he keeps having nightmares, and so we have brought him away from the other patients on the ward so he doesn't disturb their sleep. Does he have any other relatives we can contact? We only found your name and number as a contact in his wallet." The doctor asked.

Baz shook his head,

"Except from his father, there is no one else."

"Ok, you can see him if you want," The doctor said to the shocked Baz, before turning towards Bob and Mandy. "And I'll update you if there is any change in his condition…"

Baz followed the doctor down the endless maze of similar looking, white corridors, until they finally reached their destination.  The white-coated doctor opened the door to Lucas's hospital room and let Baz enter.

"I'll leave you two alone now," As he softly closed the door and left the pair alone in the room. As Baz looked around the room, he couldn't believe how many machines Lucas, _his_ Lucas was attached to. There were literally hundreds of machines, connecting to different parts of the painfully small boys body. Baz numbly walked over to where Lucas was lying and sat down in the chair next to the bed and sat watching the sleeping boy, like a lion looking over his cub. Baz suddenly felt something trickle down the side of his face and in a flash, realised he was crying. Unable to hold back the tears, Baz put his head down and cried himself into a deep and dreamless slumber.

****

"No… Don't hurt… I'm sorry… Daddy stop! NO! NO! NO! MUMMY! Help me!" Baz was suddenly awoken by Lucas's petrified screams and, shaking the sleep from his brain, Baz acted fast.

"Lucas! Lucas, can you hear me? Lucas! Come on, kid, wake up!" Pinning the kid down, Baz was able to wake Lucas up from his nightmare. "Hey, it's ok. You're fine now, I've got ya'."

Lucas was shaking violently and uncontrollably, as Baz whispered words of comfort to reassure the shaken boy. Lucas's sobs eventually subsided into gentle hiccups.

"What was that about? You certainly know how to wake someone up, that's for sure." Baz murmured.

"I… I… d…don't wanna…t…t…talk 'bout it," Lucas stammered, his voice still shaking.

"That's ok, but we're going to talk about it later, understand?" Baz said sternly, as he held Lucas tightly in his arms and gently rocked him, comfortingly. Lucas mutely nodded. "How are you feeling?"

"OK, I guess." Lucas mumbled into Baz's chest. Lucas suddenly looked Baz in the face and asked, "Did you know who it was who…um…well, you know…"

Baz closed his eyes before saying,

"Beat you? Yes, I think I do."

Lucas looked down again and sleepily mumbled,

"Oh, OK."

Baz continued rocking Lucas until his breathing became long and deep, signifying he was asleep.

"I'm sorry pal, I'm so, so sorry." Baz couldn't hold back any more and let loose the tears and emotions he couldn't display earlier.

TBC…

Until next time… Hahaha!


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 

Baz awoke the next morning feeling nervous and jumpy. His throat felt dry and raspy, and his bones were aching from the position he had slept on the hospital chair all night. He checked on Lucas before heading to the hospital cafeteria, to sort out a few things. First of all he purchased a coffee from the machine, before heading over to the vid link and making a phone call to check on Matt.

"Hello, this is Chris speaking." The man on the other end of the phone answered.

"Hi Chris, can I speak to Matt, please?" Baz said, sipping on his coffee.

"Yeah sure," Chris anxiously asked. "Baz, is everything all right with Lucas? I mean Matt turned up here yesterday in a flood of tears, saying something about Lucas being attacked. Is it really true?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid so. Thanks for looking after Matt. How is he?" Baz quizzed the man.

"He's fine, but full of questions," Chris cautioned him. "I'll go and get him."

Baz only waited a short while, until Matt suddenly appeared at the other end. Baz carefully explained to Matt about the attack on Lucas, and updated him on his brother's condition. Matt had tears in his eyes by the time he had finished.

"Why?" Was the only response from Matt, before he burst into a flood of tears. Baz listened to the innocent ramblings of the child, almost breaking down himself. "Why Lucas? He's only a kid. Six years old, who would… No, _could_ do such a thing?"

At last Chris, who disconnected the call, comforted Matt. Baz rested his head against the phone, before quickly turning around and almost crashing into the two policemen that had questioned Matt before.

"Baz Sunderland, I presume?" Jimson asked. Baz just nodded. "I have a few questions to ask you, about Master Wolenczak."

Baz found himself led to the Relatives Room accompanied by the two officers.

"Now, I understand that the boy was released into your care…" One officer began.

"Actually, he was released into his father's care. He requested for Lucas to stay with him. I couldn't do anything about it." Baz answered, with a faraway look in his eyes.

The questioning officer just nodded, while the other officer, Houston scribbled into a notebook.

"OK. What about Matt? Lucas' brother?" 

"He's staying with my next-door neighbour at the moment." Baz stated

"And before?" Jimson coaxed.

"He was staying with me, in my apartment." Baz's eyes were still unfocused, which worried the officers.

"Now, I really need you to come down to the station to give a statement about the attack…" Houston started.

"Why? I wasn't there. I was at home." Baz calmly stated.

"But we still need a statement to that effect. What was your relationship with Lawrence Wolenczak?"

"We got on OK, I guess. But… I don't know… There was something about him that made me, almost, well… afraid of him. It's hard to describe." Baz's eyes grew puzzled and he suddenly snapped out of his trance-like state. "Why all the sudden interest in him?"

The two policemen exchanged looks, before replying,

"We have reason to believe that Lucas was being severely abused at his home, over the last few months before he was attacked yesterday."

At this news, Baz slowly closed his eyes and tried to absorb the information. Though the information didn't come as a shock to Baz, he still couldn't believe what was happening. Baz suddenly felt light headed and, after saying goodbye to the officers, he found his way back to Lucas's room. He took up his position by the bed and sank into a fitful sleep.

*********************************************************************

Three days later and Lucas woke up. Baz had sat watching over Lucas for the past three days, only occasionally taking breaks and constantly worrying the doctors about his health. The doctors eventually managed to coax him into getting some sleep and something to eat and drink. That was a couple of hours ago and now, as Baz stood by the window, Lucas's gentle stirring alerted Baz that he was waking up. Immediately Baz rushed to the waking boy.

"Hey Lucas, it's OK!" Baz reassured the struggling youth. Lucas soon stopped struggling and focused on Baz and the room he was in. "You're at the hospital, can you remember why?" Baz quizzed him.

Lucas just nodded, not saying a word. He looked tired so, Baz let him go to sleep, before alerting the doctor that he'd woken up.

*********************************************************************

In a few weeks, Lucas began to wake up for more frequent and longer periods of time and during this time, Baz noticed that Lucas didn't talk much; in fact, he never seemed to talk at all, but as the waking periods had been so short, he had always put his lack of speech due to tiredness. Baz tested out his theory, one day when Matt and a doctor were present.

"Hey Lucas, which do you prefer? Wine gums or Munchies?" Baz knew the answer anyway, but was just testing Lucas.

Lucas just shrugged his shoulders in reply.

"Come on, you must have a favourite, everyone does!" Baz asked in a friendly, non-threatening voice. Lucas just shrugged his shoulders again and looked down at the bed. 

The doctor also noticed this and quickly did some tests on Lucas. Doctor Colin frowned. There was no reason for the boy not to be speaking though he had been through an incredible amount of trauma recently. Dr Colin asked if he could speak with Baz outside the room. Baz agreed.

"I don't think Lucas can speak." Dr Colin began. "I mean, he can speak, but his mind's so traumatised that I don't think he wants to speak. It's not uncommon for someone like Lucas who has been under a lot of psychological and physical trauma… And I'm sure Lucas can be cured, but he just needs some help from a psychiatrist."

Baz nodded as the doctor ranted on about a friend of his who worked as a psychiatrist, but Baz's mind was still on Lucas's emotionless face.

To be continued…

Sorry this part took so long. I'm determined not to let this fic become an unfinished one! The next part should focus more on Lucas, and should be longer, but I'm not sure when I can post it, as I'm going on holiday soon.


	10. Chapter 10 On the road to recovery

Chapter 10.

Moths passed very slowly for Lucas, but his bruises had almost faded and his wounds had started to heal. His emotional wounds hadn't. Lucas still wasn't talking, even though he had been seeing a psychiatrist almost every day. The doctors who examined him were sympathetic towards him, making Lucas feel like a baby and Baz and Matt came to visit Lucas every day, until he was allowed to come home.

    Baz and Matt were animatedly talking to Lucas, who was sitting in a wheelchair, looking pale and tired. Although he had been released from the hospital, Lucas still hadn't fully recovered but the hospital needed the bed and so Lucas was finally allowed home.

    Baz signed the forms, which released Lucas into his care and watched as Matt talked to Lucas, while Lucas stuck his thumb into his mouth, cocked his head to one side and listened carefully to everything his elder brother was saying. In that instant, Baz swore to himself that he would never let anything happen to Lucas ever again. Watching Matt hug Lucas, he knew Matt was just as determined to do the same.

    "You guys ready to go?" Baz cheerfully asked. 

The pair nodded their enthusiasm and Baz chuckled at their relieved faces.

    "Can you leave the wheel chair over their please?" The nurse accompanying them pointed to a group of chairs. Baz lifted Lucas up onto his hip, while Matt pushed the chair to its rightful position. The nurse began to chat to Baz about the medication Lucas would need. Matt was almost bouncing with impatience at this point.

    "Now I'll come by and see you, to change the stitches and make sure everything's ok. Is that all right?" The nurse concluded.

    "That's fine. Thanks, Jenny." Baz smiled and began to walk away.

    "Bye Lucas!" The Nurse waved, and was rewarded with a tiny smile and a wave of his hand.

    'Ah! What a cute kid?' Jenny smiled to herself.

     Lucas didn't remember much about the journey home from the hospital. All he remembered was Matt's voice talking to him, before he floated away into a dreamless sleep

****

    When Lucas woke up, he was surprised to find himself in a strange bed, all to himself. Then he realised he wasn't in the hospital anymore and cheered up immediately. Lucas began to look around the room and was surprised to see Baz, sound asleep on a chair. Lucas felt a twinge of guilt as he realised Baz must have watched over him the whole night.

    Lucas gently swung his feet over the side of the bed and gasped in shock as he felt a burning sensation in the pit of his stomach, then he remembered about the stitches. He would have to be more careful in future. 

    Slowly, Lucas descended down the side of the bed and crept over to where Baz was sleeping. Somehow Lucas managed to climb onto the chair and into Baz's lap, using Baz's legs and the chair as a foothold. Lucas stared into his rescuer's sleeping face, before he felt the man stir beneath him. Baz slowly opened his eyes and nearly jumped in surprise as he noticed the youth sitting on him.

    "Hey, how you doing?" Baz yawned and stretched. A look of surprise crossed the older man's face, "And what are you doing up here?"

Lucas just shrugged his shoulders in reply, making Baz sigh.

    "You know, we're gonna have to sort this language barrier out. This could get a bit tiresome." Baz picked the youth up high above his head, making him squeal in delight.

    "How about something to eat? You hungry?" Lucas nodded ecstatically. "Come on then." Baz carried Lucas downstairs, where he found Matt had already discovered the cartoons and had begun to watch them. Leaving Lucas with Matt, Baz began to make a light breakfast whistling as he did so.

****

Lucas was very tired for the first couple of days, but after that he began to get restless. He was tired of sleeping, and was curious as to what changes had been done to the house since he had last stayed there. Grabbing a worn and much loved teddy bear from off the bed, Lucas began to wander around the apartment, noting all the changes. He eventually heard Baz in the study, typing furiously on the computer.

   Chewing the corner of his bear's arm, Lucas entered the creaking door and the typing stopped. When he saw Baz staring in shock at him, Lucas ran towards him his arms open wide. Baz picked the kid up and spun him around, before asking in a stern but joking manner,

    "What are you doing up? You should be in bed, young man." Lucas pulled a face of disgust, which made Baz laugh. "Come on, you. Let's find something for you to do." Baz started to talk to Lucas about learning sign language, to which Lucas nodded enthusiastically. Lucas sighed, happy to be home at last.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

When Jenny, the nurse at the hospital came to see Lucas one evening, she could see the immediate difference. No longer had the youth got bags of fatigue under his eyes, the colour had returned to his cheeks and he had even put on some weight since she had last seen him… All in four weeks.

    "Well, someone seems to remember me, don't they?" Jenny smiled as the youth ran at her and almost knocked her off of her feet. "But usually my patients run the other way when they see me coming!"

    Baz laughed and invited the pretty nurse in.

    "He's still not talking, but we can communicate now. We've taught ourselves sign language, so Lucas can be included." Baz clarified.

    Jenny was impressed, though when she saw the look in Baz's eyes, she knew he really did care for the lad.

    "So, how has things been going? No tears in the stitches, bleeding, anything like that?"

    Baz shook his head.

    "Oh cool. Now I'm going to take them out today, is that ok?"  Jenny asked Lucas, who nodded his head in relief. The stitches had been annoying him.

    "If you've seen the amount he complains about them, I mean even though he can't talk, he still manages to make the biggest fuss over them." Baz laughed. He watched as Lucas went into a mock stress with him and pretended to sulk, but only for a second before he switched on a sunny smile and hugged Baz.

    "Can we go somewhere private to take the stitches out? Or do you want me to take them out right here?" Jenny asked Baz jokingly.

    "Yeah, I'll show you through."

***

    After Jenny left Lucas fell fast asleep, his energy spent out with the day's excitement. Lucas floated off into a dreamless sleep. His clothes were still on when he hit the pillow on top of the covers.

***

   The next day, Matt and Baz tried to get Lucas talking. They had made it into a sort of a routine, so each day after breakfast they would take turns in persuading the troubled youth to talk. Lucas, however, was stubborn and only talked in sign language, despite all their efforts. Just then the door bell rang out, making them all jump. Baz frowned as he wasn't expecting anyone but went to open the door. He was surprised to see Amy, Matt's mom standing there and was even more surprised when she began to lecture him.

   In the lounge, Lucas and Matt could hear the silent, but arguing voices. Lucas suddenly began to feel afraid and cuddled up to his big brother for protection. Matt hugged him back. They could almost make out the words the voices said, but not quite. The voices gradually got louder and Lucas became more frightened, clinging to Matt, trying to block out the noise the voices were making. Finally Matt couldn't take it any more. Marching to the owners of the raised voices while still carrying Lucas in his arms, Matt shouted above the din,

    "Excuse me! Can you please shut up? You're scaring Lucas."

    Both people turned towards him, stunned at his courage. When the mysterious guest turned round, Matt was surprised to see his mother standing in front of him. She was supposed to have picked him up weeks ago, before the attack on Lucas even.

    "Come on, pack your things, we're going." Amy was deadly serious.

    "And who says I have to go anywhere with _you?" Matt sneered, his hatred growing every second._

    "Me. You know? Your mother?" Amy was being sarcastic.

    "No, I'm not going and you can't make me." Matt calmly replied, while inside his heart was racing; he didn't want to leave Lucas and Baz. He knew he wouldn't see them again. Matt drew Lucas protectively closer.

    "Oh yes you are, now pack your things or I will." Amy threatened.

    Baz signalled to Matt to give him Lucas, who was becoming restless in Matt's arms. Matt passed him over, and watched as Baz comforted Lucas who had burst into tears, knowing that his brother couldn't win over Amy; she always got what she wanted.

    "But why can't I stay with Baz and Lucas?" Matt whined.

    "Baz has got a lot to worry about with Lucas and a job to hold down. You've got school work to catch up on and you're not going to catch up with this amount of hassle. I'm moving _with you to San Francisco." Amy looked dead serious._

    "But that's the other side of America. I can't even come and visit…" Matt started to cry, knowing that he couldn't win over his mother wishes.

    Baz swooped down and, still holding Lucas, he hugged the young boy. Baz looked at Amy with a now-look-what-you've-done look upon his face. Amy just scowled at him. Lucas, sensing Matt needed some attention, hugged Matt and Baz together.

    "Listen, we'll come and visit you in the holidays and half terms and we'll call you to see how you're doing." Baz complied.

    "But why can't I stay with you?" Matt asked tearfully.

    "Cos you're mom wants you to move with her and she is you're mom, and I'm not, so I can't fight against this." Baz felt tears wash to the front of his eyes, but refused to cry. 

    Amy moved upstairs to pack Matt's stuff, while Baz continued to comfort the crying brothers. Baz didn't want to let Matt go, but he knew he had to do what was necessary to ensure Matt didn't try to run away.

    The last thing Lucas saw of his brother was when he was in the back of the car, turned around in his seat as he waved good bye. Lucas hadn't said a word up until then, he had just kept everything bottled up inside, but as he saw the car driving away the bottle exploded and Lucas began screaming,

    "Why did you have to let him leave? Why? He didn't do anything wrong, I should be taken away, not him. Why Matt? Why now?" 

    Baz, shocked by this sudden outburst at his brother's departure, did the only thing he could think of and hugged the kid towards him, not wanting to let go. Lucas was suddenly afraid that if he let Baz go, he too would disappear out of Lucas's life and he would never see Baz again. Lucas squeezed Baz as tight as his little hands could manage.

To be continued…

Sorry these parts are taking so long, I had a bad run of luck, including a friend, who was rushed to hospital. Anyway, I hope the next ones shouldn't take _quite so long, but ya' never can tell._


	12. Chapter 12 A new hope

Chapter 12.

Lucas, still devastated by what had happened to his brother, had been unsuccessfully trying to get to sleep for hours. Whenever he did get to sleep, he had been awoken by nightmares about the times he had heard his real parents arguing. In the end, Lucas had managed to cry himself into a restless sleep.

_Flashback into the dream_.

Lucas came running down the stairs as happily as can be, but suddenly stops when he reaches the kitchen. He can hear angry voices, shouting at each other, both sound so familiar but Lucas just can't place where he's heard the voice before. One of the voices is of his mum, the other is a male. The voices have stopped now and the radio has been switched on, very loudly. Then there was a huge thud, as something heavy hit the floor inside the kitchen.

'Mum must have dropped something; I've got to help her!' Lucas thought to himself as he reached towards the door handle.

 Closer and closer he drew nearer and nearer now. Twisting the silver sphere that was the door handle, and about the same height as his shoulder, Lucas opened the door and peeked in. Nothing, could prepare him for what he was about to see.

"Mummy?" Lucas cried in a hesitant voice, before looking around the kitchen in frozen shock.

There was blood everywhere, over the counter, the wooden stools, the kitchen floor, but the worst of this was on his beloved mother. That was the last thing he saw before he was knocked flying into the kitchen by a hand on his shoulder, knocking him into the counter, unconscious.

End Flashback.

"NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" Lucas cried out into the night. He awoke suddenly and looked around, suddenly scared. It was three in the morning. Curling up into a ball on his bed, Lucas cried. He couldn't remember what he had dreamed about, but the fear never left… It was the same fear that lurked around him, taunting him and pleading with him not to say a word during the day. Lucas could hear Baz's footsteps on the landing and enter his room. 

    "Lucas?" The man whispered. He could hear the youth crying and trying to unsuccessfully muffle it with the duvet cover. He crept over to the bed and sat on it, soothingly rubbing the boy's shoulder. Lucas had his back towards the elder man, but rolled around as he felt gentle, massaging hands on his back. Baz pulled Lucas into a gentle, but comforting hug.

    "What's up?" Baz comforted. "Come on, you know you trust me, can't you?" Silence was his only reply. "You know you're gonna have to start talking a bit more than screaming fit, I'm are getting really worried about you." 

    Lucas sniffed, as he felt the comfort and warmth around him and some of the fear eased away. Things he had never had before in _that house Lucas had taken to calling it. Baz felt the youngster's fear relax and put him back down into bed, tucking the covers around him. The elder man began to softly hum a lullaby that Lucas's mum used to sing to him when he was little and watched as he gradually drifted off to sleep._

'Until tomorrow night,' Baz thought to himself, before he exited the room and he too fell fast asleep.

***

    In the morning, Lucas still wasn't speaking and what was even more worrying was that he wasn't eating either.

   "Come on, Lucas. You've got to eat something- you'll go hungry later!" Baz tried to persuade Lucas. Only silence greeted Baz. "Well, if that's the way you want to act, fine by me." Baz watched the wary youngster's reaction. "But don't expect me to watch you slowly fade away into nothing." He had Lucas's attention now. "You're gonna have to start talking sooner or later, so it might as well be now. So talk."

   Baz stood with his hands on hips, staring at the child who had lowered his gaze onto the table. Baz sat on the chair next to him and, placing a hand under his chin, he gently made Lucas look into his eyes. Lucas resisted at first, before he gazed into his trusted friends eyes.

    "It's gonna be all right, they can't hurt you- I promise." Baz calmly told him.

    Lucas turned away rebelliously and looked out into the garden; his eyes grew faraway and distant. The pair sat in silence for a while, watching and waiting.

    "I hated it in that house. Hated it. I thought everyone had forgotten about me, sitting all alone in the dark wondering, was this the day I'm going to die?" Lucas finally spoke, controlling every word he said. Baz didn't interrupt him; just let him do the talking. "I kept on wondering why nobody came for me, why they let him 'punish' me." Lucas became slightly hysterical. "He called it punishment, but it was really torture. And when I see his face and it's all twisted up and angry like, I just remember him hitting me over and over again, wanting it to stop… But it didn't stop... It just kept on coming. Once he even got a gun and put a pillow over my mouth. He left it there until I could see all these dots in front of my eyes and…And that's when he lifted the pillow away from my head. I was short of breath, so I was gasping for air and he shoved the gun in my mouth and put the pillow over my head again…He was going to kill me…He was…" Lucas's voice faded away and began to cry hysterically. He was surprised to see that Baz was crying too. He asked Baz why he was crying.

    "No one should have been what you've been through. I'm surprised you don't hate me. I would if I were you. But you are really brave and we can get through this. Together. One step at a time." Baz comforted Lucas.

    Lucas looked up, tears still wet on his face. This time the look Lucas gave wasn't rebellious, but one of hope. Hope that he might have actually found some way out of the pit of raw emotions and fear that were buried so deep inside him, even Lucas was having difficulty finding where the pain ended and fear began. Hope shone brightly through Lucas's eyes and in that moment, Baz knew Lucas would be all right in time.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13.

8 years later…

Baz, who fought long and hard for custody over Lucas, had eventually won on the grounds that it was 'the best interests of the child.' Lucas was happy and content living with Baz and was even visited by Mandy and Bob, his road side rescuers. The only thing Lucas regretted was that Matt wasn't around. Matt could only come for a few visits every year, as both he and Lucas were busy with his college studies and further education. Matt was just glad to get away from Amy, who was busy controlling his life.

    Lucas had just graduated from college and he had started to work on a project in the aquarium, which if he could make it work, would allow humans to communicate with dolphins.

    "Hey Baz!" Lucas cried, dumping his bag in the hallway and ambling through the lounge, where he knew he would find his uncle, as he now referred to his guardian. Lucas has kept his surname, in honour and memory of his mom. "What's up?"

    Baz looked up from a pile of papers, which were spread around the room and gave the kid a quick smile.

    "Nothing much." Baz paused for a second, before studying Lucas for such a long time it made the youth nervous.

    "What's wrong?" Lucas tried not to sound nervous, but was curious as the elder shook his head and returned to his paper work. Baz worked in the UEO now and was high up in the ranks. Lucas shrugged and trudged upstairs to work on his vocorder problem.

***

    Over dinner Baz was unusually quiet, as though he wasn't quite concentrating on what Lucas was saying. Lucas deliberately dropped his knife into his nearly empty plate, making Baz jump.

    "What's wrong? You've hardly said a word _and you haven't eaten much. Now when you don't eat, I __know something's gotta be wrong!" Lucas added cheekily._

    Baz chuckled before he got up and left the table, walking over to a pile of papers left to one side. Lucas watched curiously, as his uncle pulled out a big official-type letter and placed it down in front of him. On the envelope was Lucas' name, printed in large letters. Baz had a far away look on his face, before he collected the plates and took them to the kitchen. He began to make the dessert.

    Slowly Lucas tore the envelope. It had a UEO label on the front and looked very official. Inside was a letter. Skimming through, Lucas quickly read and then re-read the letter, not wanting to believe what he was reading. It was a letter almost forcing him to stay on the SeaQuest. Lucas suddenly realised why Baz was so upset, if he went to the SeaQuest Baz would be all on his own and Lucas wouldn't know anyone there.

    Lucas walked into the kitchen with a look of shock. Baz started to speak, without even turning around. "There's more. The UEO want me to go on a mission, where I'll have to go under cover for about a year. You're going to have to lie about some parts of your life too."

    "So I'm not getting a choice in the matter, is that it? I just have to go wherever I'm sent, is that it?" Lucas's face had gone bright red with anger and Baz turned round to face the young man.

    "No, that's not it at all. I didn't want any of this to happen and I only found out today as well. I have to do it… They've got my hands tied behind my back on this one. If there was anything I could do, I would do it… But I haven't got that choice."

    Lucas didn't hear the rest, as he broke into a run towards his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him. In the kitchen below, Baz knew somewhere in his heart that he had made the right decision. He didn't want to go, but he had no choice.

***

    Lucas didn't speak to Baz for the next week; in fact he avoided him completely and his bad mood showed there was a problem to the people working with him in the aquarium. They were all worried about him, but didn't know what to do to sort it out.

    Lucas returned to home late, to avoid being seen by Baz. He was surprised to see Baz waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs as soon as he walked in the front door.

    "Lucas…" Baz began.

    "I've got nothing to say to you!" Lucas told Baz sharply. Baz looked hurt.

    "Listen to me. You can't avoid talking to me for the rest of our lives, and I know this is hurting you but I told you before. I don't have a choice. The decision is out of my hands. I wouldn't do this if it wasn't essential. Don't you see?" Baz pleaded with Lucas to be forgiven.

    "No, I don't _see. All I understand is that the person I thought loved me and cared about me is going to give me like all the other people I've known in my life. I thought you were different! I thought you cared for me! I guess I was mistaken." With that, Lucas stormed past his guardian and upstairs into the safety of his bedroom. Lucas placed his hands over his face, slid down the door into a crouching position on the floor and began to cry._

'It's not fair! It's not fair' Lucas thought. 'Why me? Why now?'

To be continued.

 I hope you're enjoying the story so far. I should get the part next done pretty sharpish. Please review cos I'm not sure how I'm doing in 'the later years' of this story.


	14. Chapter 14 A new start

Chapter 14.

"Lucas, I'm going now. Remember the story and stick to it, or else I might be in danger if you don't. Lucas… Lucas…" Baz's calls remained unanswered. "I've left a number you can contact me on, but you have to memorise it then burn it afterwards." Baz sighed. He had hoped to reach the kid before he left.

    Turning away from the door, Baz started to head for the stairs. He was surprised to hear Lucas's bedroom door open and even more surprised when Lucas stepped out of his bedroom door. Baz turned and saw his young charge was crying. Rushing forward, he pulled Lucas into an embrace and held him until he stopped crying.

    "Why are you crying?" Baz asked Lucas.

    "I couldn't let you walk out, like I did with Matt… It wasn't fair then and it isn't fair now. I don't understand your reason and I probably never will, I don't agree with them but I won't make the same mistake as I did with Matt!" After this speech was delivered, Lucas looked slightly embarrassed with the way he had acted.

    "I know this is hard for you, but you have to remember something. I will _always love you, no matter what. I mean, even if you joined the Italian army and got a tattoo and was arrested for tattooing people with a four legged donkey for your side kick," Baz said the first things he could think of, earning a chuckle from of Lucas. "I'd still care for you, no matter what happened OK?"_

    Lucas nodded, hugging his uncle again. "I…I love you," Lucas whispered.

    "I love you, too." The pair stayed like that for a couple of minutes, before the taxi beeped his horn impatiently and Baz said,

    "Now don't forget to go to New Cape Quest at, what time?" Baz tested.

    "Noon," Lucas rolled his eyes; Baz had shouted the instructions through the door only a few seconds ago.

     "Very good!" Baz said, patting Lucas on the head. "See ya' later, kiddo."

    "Bye!" Lucas called out and watched as Baz walked down the stairs, collected his luggage and left, shutting the door behind him.

***

    Lucas made it on time to New Cape Quest, barely. He ignored the puzzled looks he got from the other members of the crew and knew he would have to get used to them if he was going to stay there. Wandering around the boat, Lucas eventually found his quarters from a map he was given beforehand.

'Well here it is… Home sweet home for the next year.' Sighing, Lucas looked around his new, but cramped quarters. 'One thing to look forward to at least,' Lucas thought with a devilish look on his face. 'Is the expression on their faces when they hear the vocorder!'

***

    And Lucas wasn't disappointed. He watched as their jaws dropped in astonishment as they could actually hear the dolphin speak.

   "That's incredible!" Dr Westphalen commented, the shock registering on her face.

   "I designed it myself," Lucas commented proudly.

   "Really? And your how old?" She was truly amazed.

   "15." Lucas grew tired of the question quickly, as so many people in his life had commented on it.

    "That's incredible!" The doctor repeated herself.

***

    As the weeks passed, Lucas grew to like the crew a lot and had settled down quite quickly. Most of the crew were friendly, even though he had gotten off on the wrong foot when he had met some of them for the first time. Lucas finally felt relaxed about escaping his past life and all the memories – both good and bad- that they held.


	15. Chapter 15

Note: In my reality, Lucas works on the bridge as well as in the labs.

Chapter 15.

    "Hey Lucas, I've got a brilliant idea and I need to talk to ya' bud!" Lucas turned as he recognised the voice of his best friend Ben Krieg, which seemed to boom down the empty corridor.

    "If it's gonna' get me in trouble, I don't wanna know about it, OK Ben?" Lucas replied, sarcasm laced into his voice.

    "Hey ye of little faith, this is a fool proof plan and there is absolutely no chance of it going wrong."

Lucas crossed his arms and faced his friend, one eye brow raised in disbelief.

    "OK, so what's the plan?"

    "Not here, there are too many people around." Ben said, looking over his shoulder.    Lucas glanced up and down the deserted corridor, and asked.

    "Where? Ben, there is nobody in the corridor except us."

    Ben looked around before putting on a gruff voice and said,

    "Even the walls have ears, kiddo."

    Lucas sighed, but walked back to the older man's room to please his paranoid friend. He started to feel nervous, as he was almost certain that Ben's latest 'plan' would end up with them scrubbing toilets or some other punishment the captain might have in store for them.

    "So what's the big idea ya' got?" Lucas asked, as he watched Ben rummaged around in his closet. He emerged with a couple of bottle of something Lucas couldn't quite make out. "What's that?"

    "This, my friend, is my brilliant foolproof idea." With this, Ben showed Lucas a bottle of quick drying fluorescent pink nail polish and some matching pink lipstick. "Well, what do you think?"

    "I don't think the colour will suit you, but…" Lucas began, but was cut off by Ben.

    "Not on me, you twit. On Ford. Imagine the scene, Ford walks on to the bridge in matching pink lipstick and pink nail varnish because he is running late after his alarm clock didn't go off, or at least went five minutes before he was due to go on the bridge... Come on. It'll be fun!"

    "How are we gonna do that?" Lucas had to smile at the imagined scene Ben had created of Commander Ford.

    "Well, that's where you come in. Ortiz is organising a poker game for tomorrow night and I know that Ford definitely won't go…" Ben started.

    "That's great, but how do we make sure he's asleep?" Lucas was sceptical.

    "That's the brilliant part. Ford will have a double shift, so he'll be so tired he won't even hear us when we creep into his room. Well I've found a way through the passageways and into his room, so we won't get caught. Are you with me?"

    Lucas smiled mischievously.

    "What do you want me to do?" 

***

    The next night went without fault. Lucas reset Ford's alarm to go off ten minutes before his shift, while Ben painted their victim's finger nails and toe nails pink. Lucas couldn't wait until the next morning on the bridge. Lucas silently chuckled at the sight of the Commander; Ben had even painted his cheeks with the lipstick, making Ford look like a toy soldier. 

    "Come on, let's get out of here!" Lucas whispered after Ben had finished.

    "OK." Ben whispered back, their work was complete.

***

    The next morning couldn't come any sooner. Both Ben and Lucas had found their alibis in the form of a poker game and had arrived at different times to avoid their suspicion. The crew members played poker for most of the night before retiring to bed at midnight. Lucas could hardly contain himself, as they eagerly awaited the Commanders appearance… He was already a couple of minutes late for the start of his shift.

    "Does anyone know where Commander Ford is this morning?" Captain Bridger asked the Bridge crew. No one had seen Ford that morning. "O'Neill, get me Commander Ford on his PAL, it's not like him to be late." A frown creased Bridger's brow.

     "Aye sir!" O'Neill replied and was just about to respond to the command, when Ford appeared on the bridge, modelling some bright pink nail polish.

    "Sorry I'm late, sir. _Someone snuck into my room and… Well, you can see what they did." Commander Ford blushed bright red, as the Bridge crew collapsed in helpless laughter._

    Bridger just sighed and said,

    "OK, just get some nail polish, and _hurry up!" Turning to the laughing crew, he calmly asked. "Krieg, Lucas, come here please."_

    Meekly they walked towards their Captain. "Explain."

    "It wasn't us, sir. We were at a poker game most of last night," Ben explained. "Ask    Ortiz, he was with us most of the night."

    "Ortiz, is this true?" Bridger asked.

    "Yeah, they were at a poker game with me and a few other friends." Ortiz just about managed to say, without laughing.

    "Well, OK. I believe you," Bridger turned and strictly addressed the whole crew.    "But if anything like this happens again, I will not be impressed."

    As Bridger turned his back, Lucas let out a silent breath of relief and began to type furiously on his computer. 

    "Sir, there I an incoming message from Admiral Noyce." Tim's voice rang out.    

    "Shall I put it through here, or do you want to take it in the ward room?"

    "Put it through in the ward room, I think." Bridger instructed and wondered to answer the call. When he arrived in the Ward room, Bridger at once saw Bill Noyce's face on the vid link. "Bill! What can I do for you?"

    "Nathan!" The man greeted. "I know your going to hate me for this, but I'm afraid you and your senior crew are going to have to attend some conferences when you're docked at New Cape Quest… It's only for a couple of days."

    "Why us? Why now?" Nathan looked depressed.

    "Well, its sponsored by the UEO for some of the top scientists and combat training methods to be demonstrated and I thought it would be fitting if the UEO's finest achievement were… there to make sure everything runs smoothly," Noyce tried to reason.

    "In other words, you want to show off what the SeaQuest has to offer, to parade us round like we're on show?" Bridger questioned.

   "Nathan, you have no choice. My hands are tied behind my back on this one." Noyce gave Nathan a list of people he wanted to attend and the arrangements for the conferences before hanging up.

***

    When Bridger returned to the bridge, he noticed Commander Ford had also arrived.

    "OK everyone, may I have your attention. Now, as you may have been aware I received a call from Admiral Noyce, and he has informed me that everyone in this room, and that includes you Lucas, are too attend." There were groans all around.   

    "Now these conferences are to be held on the first two days that we are docked in    New Cape Quest…" The groans intensified. "… But the Admiral has kindly given us two days extra to compensate for any time we miss on our shore leave." The groans turned to cheers and Nathan Bridger smiled. "Now get back to work!"

***

    "I still don't see why I've got to be there. I'm not even military, I'm a scientist." Lucas complained a bit too loudly.

    "Hey, stop complaining or I'll make sure they make you go to all of the conferences." Bridger suggested. Lucas just kept quiet after that, making his friends laugh.

    "So what are you gonna do on your shore leaves then? I mean, after the conferences of course." Katie asked, sparking a debate about who had the best shore leave plan between Ortiz and Ben.

    "Ah guys! Enough already. You both have original plans, so lets just leave it at that," Tim negotiated, ending the five minute debate.

    "I'm going to bed. Night all!" Commented Lucas, who was still worn out from last night's poker game.

    "Night!" His friends replied.

***

Two days later- the day of the conferences.

    The crew arrived at the pre designated hotel the Admiral had chosen for them. It was a very cheap looking hotel, but its location was near the conferences so the crew wouldn't get tired travelling back and forth all day. They signed in at the hotel reception and chose their room mates. Bridger turned and addressed the crew,

    "Now, the conferences aren't opened until tonight, so whatever you do, _don't be late!" Bridger addressed this last point, looking at Lucas in particular. "Now you can do anything you like within reason, but you have to be ready to leave the hotel in something smart looking at 5:30. Is that understood?"_

    There was a chorus of 'aye sirs' before they dragged their luggage up to their room. Lucas was sharing with Bridger, so he could keep a careful eye on the youngster. Dragging their luggage into the room, Lucas and Nathan looked around at their room for the next three days. It wasn't too bad, as far as a two star hotel went, there were clean sheets on the beds, no rats or mice running around… Well none that they could see at the moment anyway. Lucas ambled over to look out their window, and discovered that they had a view of the beach, which they both were pleased about.

    "So, what are you going to do?" Bridger asked the youngster.

    "Probably go down to the beach with the others, you?"

    "I'll probably join you guys, unless of course I'm cramping your style. I know you younger generation don't like to hang with 'old fogies.' like me" Lucas laughed at this.

    "You're not that old!" Lucas stated. "And I don't mind hanging round with you. Most of the others are going to play volley ball, do you wanna come down with us. They said they were gonna knock for me after they've unpacked and everything."

    "Yeah sure. Sounds like fun." Bridger was touched by the fact that Lucas had even thought of asking him.

    The day at the beach was fun. They played volley ball and sun bathed most of the day, until the wind began to pick up. The crew quickly had showers and changed into their smartest item of clothing they had. Down in reception, everyone was prompt and didn't have to wait long before the limo swept the crew off into the night and towards the official opening of the dreaded conferences.

 TBC…

Sorry it took so long to get these parts up; my computer monitor broke just as I was doing some important coursework. I've only just got a loaned monitor today. Oh well. Hope you enjoy it.


	16. Chapter 16 A surprise

Chapter 16.

    "Oh my god, I never knew someone could be so bored without calling it torture!"  Lucas complained for about the hundredth time that night.

    "Look, I'm sure it'll get better… I mean it's got to get better, right? It _can't get any worse, can it?" Tim tried to convince Lucas._

    "I really hope not." Katie added.

    "Hey, pipe down you three… You're supposed to be representing the UEO." Crocker whispered.

    The opening speeches had been going on for over an hour now and everyone was beginning to get restless. Just then everyone began to clap, as the speeches finally ended and the people began to move out of there seats to mingle with the other guests. Captain Bridger had the shortest straw, as he had to sit on the table with Admiral Noyce and all the other big-wigs of the UEO. His table was closest to the platform, in which the speeches were being made. The crew from the SeaQuest had been arranged with a table at the back of the room. 

    "I don't know about any of you, but I'm going to get some food. Anyone care to join me?" Ford offered.

    "I'll join you," Katie offered.

    "Me too!" said Crocker, already rising from the table and stretching out various muscles in his body.

    "I just need to stretch myself out." Lucas groggily mumbled.

    "A walk around the room should cure your aching muscles." Tim suggested. "I think I might join you."

    "Me too!" volunteered Ortiz.

    "Don't forget me," Ben declared.

    "How could we? You're always so loud." Lucas wittily replied.

    "Ha, ha, ha." replied Ben sarcastically.

    "This could be a long night," Tim whispered to Ortiz, who nodded in reply.

    The four friends walked around the crowded room, until at last they could feel their bones again. Attracted by the smell, their journey took them to the buffet table in the front of the room. The food looked appetising and soon everyone was tucking into their individual meals at the table. A much hassled Captain Bridger came over then.

    "How you guys coping?"

    "Just great. This is how I always wanted to spend my Saturday evenings. Stuck in a room full of people talking. Non stop." Lucas mumbled.

    "Well, at least you weren't sitting at the front where you had to actually look interested in what they were saying and not fall asleep at the same time." Bridger replied, earning a laugh from the rest of the crew. "Look I'm sure it'll liven up later…"

    Lucas just rolled his eyes and stood up from the table.

    "I'm going to get a drink…" At Bridger's look he quickly explained, "Non alcoholic of course, anyone else want anything?" The crew grunted in the negative and so Lucas turned round, bumping into a woman.

    "Oops! Sorry." Lucas gasped.

    The woman was deeply tanned and had brown, curly hair and wore a long red dress, which reached just below her knees. On her feet were sexy black boots, which seemed to reach where the dress ended. The woman didn't say anything at first, but slipped her arm around his waist.

     "I know you," The mystery woman purred into Lucas's ear. Lucas turned bright red and looked at her strangely, as he didn't recognise her at all.

    "Really? Where from? 'Cos I don't…" Lucas was interrupted.

    "We're almost related." She whispered.

    Behind Lucas, the crew were in fits of laughter at Lucas's reactions to the woman's advances. He was clearly clueless as to what to do next. Just then a gale of laughter and clapping erupted at a table nearby, but Lucas and the mystery woman ignored it. A man suddenly walked round the other side of Lucas and put his arm around Lucas's waist whispering,

    "I know you!"

    Lucas jumped a mile and out of both the man and the woman's grasp. Looking at the man, Lucas suddenly placed both hands over his mouth and the man laughed again.

    "Hi! It's me!" The man waved his hand as he spoke the words, and snapped Lucas out of his trance.

    Lucas ran forward and hugged the mystery man. The people at the table cheered again.

    "I'm sorry Lucas; I just had to do it! You're face was absolutely priceless, I wish I had a camera!" The man laughed again as Lucas looked as though he was still in shock.

    "Oh my god, oh my god!" was the only response they could get from Lucas.

    "Come on, sit down before you fall down," Captain Bridger was worried Lucas would collapse.

    The mystery man sat on the chair on Lucas's left side and began to wave his hand in front of his face. Lucas just slapped his hand out of the way.

    "Oh my god, he is alive." The man laughed, as Lucas scowled.

    "Course I'm alive! Why wouldn't I be?" Lucas asked.

    "Well, you didn't look it from where I was sitting over there." Another man had now silently joined them and was crouched on Lucas's other side, making Lucas jump before he hugged the other mystery man, who was the eldest of the three, but didn't go into shock as he had done with the other man.

    "I think a round of introductions may be in order here, don't you think?" Baz said, as he noted the confused looks on Lucas friends faces.

    "Well, I don't think Lucas is gonna be doing them," the younger man observed.

    Captain Bridger decided to be the grown up and introduce the people he knew.

    "I'm Nathan Bridger, and going round the table is Maxwell Crocker, Tim O'Neill, Miguel Ortiz, Jonathon Ford, Katie Hitchcock and Ben Krieg."

    "I'm Baz, Lucas's Uncle, and this is Matt, Lucas's brother and Matt's fiancée, Emily." Baz quickly introduced.

    "We were really bored, so when I saw you, I didn't want to just go over here and say hi, I wanted to make sure this was something you wouldn't forget in a hurry." Matt laughed. Emily, on Matt's request, sat on his lap and put her arms around her fiancée's neck, while Matt laid his hands around her waist.

    "Well, I'm sure there's no hurry in that." Ben was quick in replying.

    Baz grabbed a chair and sat on the right side of Lucas. The youth looked back and forth from Baz to Matt, before asking the pair,

    "Are you trying to corner me in, or something?"

    "Yeah, making sure you don't get into trouble… And don't say you don't get into trouble anymore because, contrary to popular beliefs, I do actually read your report cards." Lucas paled slightly and gulped. "Exactly." 

    "They're not that bad!" Lucas objected.

    "Compared to what? A bank robber's report card?" Baz raised an eyebrow, as he waited for an answer. Lucas quickly changed the subject to Matt.

    "What you doing here?" Lucas asked.

    "You know. The UEO needed a representative and I was volunteered." Matt replied.

    "That's only because you took…" Emily began, but was silenced before she got any further. Baz didn't look very amused.

    "You did what? I thought you were the older and more mature person…"

    Lucas knew there was a lecture coming on and so left to get a drink, like he'd been planning to do in the first place. Walking up to the drinks table, Lucas made his selection and turned around, almost bumping into the person standing directly behind him.

    "Oops! Sorry 'bout that." Lucas turned bright red.

    "That's OK, Lucas."

    Lucas stared at the man, before recognising one of his uncle's work colleagues, Barry. Barry had mousy brown hair and he made the long, boring meetings he had to attend when his uncle was busy, less boring by pulling silly faces at him from behind the person, who was talking. Lucas had always liked Barry, because he was great fun to talk to.

    "Oh! Hey Barry! Wassup?" Lucas asked.

    "Nothing interesting to talk about. You? I heard your on SeaQuest, how's that been for you?" Barry replied, helping himself to a drink.

    "It's great. You get to play computer games with billions of dollars worth of computer equipment, providing the Captain doesn't find out. He's nice enough about it, though." Barry nearly chocked with laughter on the drink he had began to sip slowly. After he had recovered, he said,

    "Did I hear Baz lecturing you two about not playing practical jokes just now?"

    "Yeah, why?" Lucas was curious, as Barry and Baz often worked close together and were good friends.

    "OK, now Baz is hardly an angel either. And I'd _hate to see Baz telling you two off, when he's done things hundreds of times worse… Also I need to get back at him somehow." Barry explained, with a mischievous glint in his eye. And with that Barry began to explain the pranks Baz had pulled._

***

    Matt was beginning to get bored again. He suddenly realised how long Lucas had been and looked over at the drinks table, where he saw Lucas waving frantically at him to come over. Matt frowned, confused. Lucas realised Matt wasn't getting the message, so he used sign language across the room and hoped Matt would still remember it from when they learnt it as children.

   "_Matt, come over here and get a drink. If you need to reply, don't let Baz see you."_

    Matt signed back,

    "_Why?"_

    Lucas replied,

    "_I'll explain when you get over here!"_

    Realising Lucas wouldn't explain until he went over there, Matt excused himself by saying,

    "Excuse me, I _have to go and get a drink." Baz raised his eye brow at the emphasis on the word 'have', but didn't say anything._

    He walked over to Lucas, who was talking animatedly to an older man Matt didn't recognise.

    "Matt, this is Barry and he works with Baz, Barry, this is my brother, Matt." Lucas introduced quickly. "OK, now apparently Baz has been pulling a few pranks of his own he 'forgot' to mention in his little speech back then. I'm going to embarrass Baz like he did to us, but I need you're help. Here's what we're going to do…" Lucas huddled closer to Matt and the plotting began.

***

    Lucas and Matt walked casually up to Baz, Matt sitting in Lucas's chair and Lucas bending down, so he was the same height as Baz and placed his arms around Baz's neck. Baz looked a bit worried, while the rest of the crew were watching with keen interest,

    "Baz…" Lucas began.

    "Yes, what are you up to now, you little horror." Baz's voice faltered slightly.

    "You know when you were lecturing us about playing pranks?" He continued,

    "Yes," Baz repeated himself.

    "Well, is there anything you'd like to tell us? Anything at all. Remember, we're here to listen and not to judge." Matt took over, trying to sound like a Samaritan.

    "No, why would I want to?" Baz stared at Lucas, who still had his arms around his neck and trying to figure out what they were up to.

    "Well, we know differently." Matt concluded.

    "Oh? Really?" Baz was _really nervous now._

    "Then why didn't you tell us about the time where you gave one of your friends dog food to eat, after you were harshly criticised on your cooking?" Lucas started, before Matt took over.

    "Or the time you drew on your bunk mate's face with permanent marker and made sure his alarm woke him up ten minutes before he had to go and do a public speech?" 

    "Or the other time when you hid all the anger management manuals when you _knew your friend needed one." Lucas sounded very disappointed._

    "Where's the trust here? I mean you find out the stuff we get up to…" Matt tried to sound hurt, but failed miserably.

    "So now we have found someone else, who will be our human report card. So every prank you pull, every telling off you get, we'll know. Oh yes. We'll make sure we know about it." Lucas concluded, taking his arms off his uncle's shoulders at last.

    Baz had gone crimson with embarrassment, but faced Lucas and asked,

    "How did you find out about all of that?"

    Lucas just pointed to the table, where Barry sipped some more of his wine and waved at them. Baz shook his head in disbelief, as Barry started to walk casually towards the table.

    "So! What's new?" Barry sounded casual, while Baz was trying to think of a witty reply. In the end he gave up trying to the and said,

    "It was you!"

    The table burst out laughing at Baz's simple statement. Barry, shaking with laughter, just nodded.

    "How could you?"

    "I was bored and I needed a laugh. I just thought it was very wrong the way you were telling Matt and Lucas here off for a couple of minor pranks, and you've done things they probably never would have dreamed of doing." Barry rightly pointed out.

    Baz pretended to sulk, but the façade ended soon. Barry joined the table as well and the group talked late into the night, before they were sent back to their hotels. In turned out that Matt, Emily, Baz and Barry were staying at the same hotel, but had arrived just in time to have a shower before going to the party. Lucas was so tired out from the party; he collapsed on the bed and fell fast asleep. Bridger looked at the sleeping boy before pulling the covers over his sleeping form and climbing into his own separate bed.

TBC…

Don't worry, this is leading somewhere, honest! I'll try and get the next part up ASAP, but I have no idea what I want to happen next. We'll see anyway.


	17. Chapter 17

Author's Notes: Before any of you start to wonder about Crocker's first name, I couldn't remember what it was, so I changed it for this story. I'm also going to try and include more of all of the characters interactions with Lucas. And I really don't mind if anyone wants to save my work, feel free to save away!

Chapter 17

It was quite late when Lucas woke up and the sun was already pouring through the curtains of the hotel room. There were no curtains or locks on the window, so the crew always felt insecure in their rooms. Lucas was looking sleepily around the room, when he noticed a note poked through the door of their shared room. It had his name printed on in bold capital letters. Propelled by curiosity, the youth was careful not to wake his sleeping room mate as he crept over to where the note lay. The paper was no bigger than a postcard and, as Lucas opened it up, his heart beat faster and the colour drained from his face as he read the words on the page. It said:

_"Keep what you value nearby, or YOU'll be the one to pay!"_

     There was no signature at the bottom. Lucas suddenly felt like he was going to faint, or throw up as he rushed to the bathroom.

'OK, calm down you fool, it's only a note. One note. You've seen worse than this.' Lucas desperately thought, as he gasped for air.

    Gradually, his breathing calmed down and he was able to venture into the other room, without feeling dizzy. Bridger was up by this time and noticed his young charge exit the bathroom, looking slightly paler than he usually did.

    "You OK? You look a bit pale to me. Do you want me to get Kristen to look over you?" A frown creased the elder mans brow, as he noticed Lucas hurriedly shove something in his back pocket.

    "Yeah, I'm fine… I guess I must have eaten something dodgy last night or something." Lucas responded nervously.

    "What's that paper you had?" The killer question Lucas had hoped not to answer.

    "Um… Just something… Err… That room service dropped through the bottom of the door, wondering if we were… Staying for dinner tonight. I already phoned down the answer." Lucas faltered.

    "Oh, OK then. You coming down for breakfast? You've gotta eat something, or else… I'll send Kristen up to examine you!" Bridger joked.

    Lucas put on a mock horror face, before saying,

    "With the thermometer? And the prodding sticks? No man would be so cruel!" They both laughed at that.

    A knock at the door was sounded and, as Bridger looked through the peep hole to see who it was, he chuckled. Lucas raised a quizzical eye brow from where he sat cross legged on his bed. In answer, Bridger opened the door and presented Kristen Westphalen.

    "Well, look who it is! We were just talking about you, as matter of fact." Bridger laughed.

    "Anything good?" Kristen quickly replied.

    "No, actually Lucas was feeling a bit ill; could you take a look at him?" Lucas stared open mouthed at Bridger, which turned into a scream as Kristen suddenly playfully lunged for Lucas. Lucas had seen her move coming and had leapt off the bed and ran and hid behind Bridger, who still had the door open. Kristen crept up to Bridger, who was watching their shenanigans with amusement.

    "Don't worry, I won't hurt you!" Kristen tried to persuade the teenager, who was cowering on all fours behind the protection of Bridger. "Not that much, anyway!" Kristen laughed and lunged, finally managing to capture the struggling teen.

    "Hey, let me go! This is child abuse! HELP!!!!!!!!" Lucas screamed.

    Just then Matt stuck his head round the still open door at Lucas's screams. Temporally distracted, Kristen loosened her grip on Lucas, who managed to escape yet again. Kristen sighed.

    "Child abuse? Can I join in?" Matt laughed at the scowl on Lucas's face.

    "No one was being abused in this room; I just want to examine him…" Kristen explained.

    "That's a form of child abuse; it's just given a different name!" Lucas shouted from somewhere behind the bed, where he had hidden. The grown ups chuckled at this comment. As Lucas continued to talk, Kristen playfully and quietly crept round the other side of Lucas's bed. "They are like vampires. They take away you're blood and then prod you for days with sharp metal pointy things, just for…"

    Lucas's sentence was cut off, as Kristen captured the youth and dragged him kicking and screaming onto the bed. Matt chuckled, before saying

    "Wow, I wish my doctor would do that to me!" He turned around and jumped at the sight of his fiancée standing behind him. "Uh, hi honey!"

    "I heard your last sentence, now don't you 'hi honey' me!" Emily said, mock angrily.

    "I think I'm going to close the door and get changed now, OK? So preferably the whole world doesn't see my PJ's!" Bridger announced and shuffled off to the bathroom to get changed. Meanwhile, Dr Westphalen had finished sitting up and examining Lucas's eyes, nose, mouth and throat and explained,

    "OK, since look so pale and from what Nathan has told me, I'm going to assume it's something you've eaten last night. Now lift your shirt up and let me take a look." Kristen was in her doctor mode at the moment.

    "No! I'm fine now… Honest. You don't have to do this, I'm better and I don't feel sick at all. Not one little bit." Lucas became scared and started to hyperventilate, as Kristen tried to calm the youth down.

    "Hey, calm down! You don't have something I haven't seen before in any one else… There's no need to panic. I just need to do a quick examination, just to check there's no damage done." 

    Kristen was worried as she watched Lucas pace around the room. A normal teenager wouldn't have reacted the way he was now and Kristen had a sneaky suspicion as to why he was so nervous. 

    "No damage done? No damage done?" Lucas was almost screaming now. "Yeah right! After all _he did to me." Realising he had said too much, Lucas went quiet but continued to pace. Kristen's suspicions were right; he had been abused. A knock at the door startled everyone in side and Kristen went to answer it. It was Baz._

    "Is everything all right in there? I thought I heard shouting!" Baz looked worried.

    "I might ask you the same thing. What have you done to him?" Kristen snapped, closing the door behind her. "He's only fifteen years old. How many years have you been…? How could you! You're a monster and I'm going to call the police. You've no right to do it and I'm going to put a stop to it once and for all. And to think last night, I thought you were…" Kristen's speech was cut short by an interruption from Baz.

    "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Now hold on just a minute…"

    "No, you hold on, mister… If I can even call you that. I mean…" Kristen started.

    "You think it was me who abused Lucas?" Baz was getting worked up, too. "Well it wasn't."

    "Do you really expect me to believe that? Coming from you?" Kristen nearly shouted, but kept her voice down for Lucas' sake.

    "Listen to me. Don't you think it was weird how Lucas was living with his _uncle for all this time? Don't you think he would have run a mile when he saw me? Don't you think its strange how Lucas __never talks about his father or any other relation? And how his __father never calls his only son on board a military sub? Well, I'll just fill you in on a couple of home truths before you go galloping off on your horses again. Yes, Lucas was abused, but not by me. It was his father, who is now in __prison serving a ten year sentence. That's why you never hear his name mentioned. Do you know how many times when he was younger I've had to listen to Lucas scream after yet another nightmare he's had and re-account the different ways his father used to abuse him? And then I have to comfort him, whilst trying not to break down at half the stuff he tells me, trying not to blame myself for not seeing what Lucas went through, for missing all the signs. And then you come out here and accuse me of child abuse? I think you should check your facts first before accusing everyone left, right and centre. I was the one who __rescued him from that monster." Baz's eyes blazed with fury._

    "Look. I'm sorry. I didn't know, OK…" Kristen was still trying to absorb the information she'd just been told.

    "No, you didn't know. You just _assumed it had to be me, right? But listen. At the moment we've got bigger problems than our arguing out here. Lucas is still inside, remember?" Baz quickly made his point. "Now are you going to let me in or have you just locked yourself out, too?" He nodded towards the closed door._

    "No, I've got the key," Kristen shook her head.

    As she opened the door and peered through, she couldn't see Lucas at first. She entered the room, closely followed by Baz.

    "Lucas?" Baz softly called.

    He was rewarded by the sobbing Lucas, who had appeared from the other side of the bed. The bedraggled youth flung himself into the elder man, crying harder. Lucas looked as though he was about to collapse when Baz led him towards the bed. They were now sitting on the edge of the bed, when Bridger appeared from where he had been talking with Lucas. He motioned to Kristen, who mouthed that they should go outside to talk. Bridger nodded in agreement, as they left the pair to talk."

***

    "You can't be serious! But this is _Lucas we're talking about. I mean, he was fine last night. Why now? I mean…. Was there signs? There had to have been signs. Did we miss all of them? How bad was it? How did you find out about it before me?" Bridger started to pace around, anxiously_

    "I don't know. All I know is what Lucas's uncle, Baz told me, but I know we can't tell the crew or anyone. What Baz told me is confidential. And that's final." Kristen was very strict about this. "I mean, it'll be embarrassing enough with us knowing, let alone the whole crew knowing, treating him like he's gonna break all the time won't help things."

    "I agree. What are we going to do about them two in there?" Bridger asked. "Should we just leave them to sort things out on there own?"

    "That would be for the best," Kristen sighed and softly added, "I hope I was right in trusting Baz, for Lucas' sake."

***

    After Lucas finished his story, Baz gently rocked the youngster to calm him down. He had almost been hysterical at first and could barely string two words together.

    Baz softly spoke. "Whatever set you off; it was before the shirt incident wasn't it? Come on you can tell me, pal." He could feel Lucas nod against his chest.

    "It came this morning." After a moment's hesitation, Lucas passed his uncle the note that was posted under the door. He watched as his uncle read the note, his concern growing. "I'm sorry…"

    "Hey, what is there to be sorry about? For not telling me about the note?" He felt Lucas nod again and placed his arms around his young charge. "Listen; do you remember what I said about the tattoo and the donkey? And remember after that I said I loved you, well nothing's changed between us and nothing ever will… OK?" He looked down at his young charge, who smiled back. 

    "What are you going to do about the note?" Lucas questioned.

    "Good question. I won't tell anyone else about this, but I'll do some private investigating. But for heaven's sake, _don't worry about it. Just leave it to me and everything will work out fine! I promise." He smiled down at the sleepy youth, before laying him down on the bed and holding his hand, until he at last fell fast asleep. But little did Baz know that pure evil in the shape of a human lurked just outside of the window, listening to everything that was said and watching every move they made._

TBC…


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18.

Baz was worried, but didn't show any outward sign of it on his face to his young charge. He too had received a threatening letter posted under the door, just like Lucas had done. Vaguely Baz wondered if they were the only one's who had received similar notes or was someone targeting the pair of them for some unknown reason. Not wanting to worry Lucas any more than he already was, Baz didn't tell the youngster about his note, but instead asked,

    "You wanna come and have some breakfast now?"

    Lucas meekly nodded, but made no attempt to move from where he leaned against his uncle, making it almost impossible for the elder man to move. Baz sighed before formulating a quick plan of action, leaning over he began to tickle the youth who squealed in delight. Lucas soon moved and together they headed out the door to grab some breakfast.

***

    Most of the crew were already at the dining room by the time Lucas and Baz reached the breakfast queue. Baz began to talk to Barry, while Matt walked up to Lucas, who was still a bit pale.

    "You OK?" Matt looked concerned for his younger brother.

    "Yeah, I'll be OK." Lucas didn't want to lie to his brother but at the same time didn't want to explain what had happened with the note in the crowded and busy room.

   "Aw! Didums!" Matt exclaimed, putting his arms around Lucas and hugging him close. Lucas didn't resist.

   "Where's Emily?" The younger man asked.

   "Oh, she was tired out from last night's speeches, but she'll be down later on. What do you think of her? I know you only met her last night and everything." Matt was desperate for his brother's approval.

   "She's nice. I like her. How did you meet?" Lucas quizzed.

   "Well, we met at the academy and, well actually I didn't like her at first…" Matt was interrupted.

Spotting Emily creep up behind Matt, Lucas innocently remarked, "But do you like her now?" Matt laughed at this comment.

   "You twit. Course I do! Well it's more than 'like' now, its love."

   "I should hope so!" Emily finally decided to speak and slipped her arms around his waist.

   "Morning sweetheart," Mat responded, lightly kissing Emily on the mouth. 

   Lucas made a gagging sound at the back of his throat and received a playful slap on the head from Matt. Lucas laughed before he selected his breakfast and went to sit down at the extended table, where most of his friends were seated. Matt and Emily followed Lucas to the table and sat down.

   "So, is everyone ready for a fun packed day of conferences?" Matt sarcastically asked. The people sitting on the table just groaned. "I'll take that as a no then!" Matt concluded.

    "What time do we start?" Lucas asked.

    "Well, we meet out in the hotels reception at about ten thirty and then a limo will take us to the place where the conferences are being held." Bridger replied, secretly glad that the teen was looking a lot happier than he had earlier and almost back to his original, cheeky self-assured self.

    "You're a bit keen, aren't you?" Matt interrupted.

    "Oh yeah, cos you know I_ love conferences so much." Lucas sarcastically replied._

    "You two, pipe down!" Baz pleaded, using the best parental tone he could muster. They both apologised and concentrated on their food.

    "Urgh! What is this? It's almost as bad as the food on board SeaQuest," Lucas exclaimed, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

    "I think mine's actually moving," Matt said, examining his food with a fork.

    "Well you are prodding it with a fork. What else did you expect to happen?" Lucas observed.

    "Yes, I know that you twit." Matt laughed.

    "So Baz, what exactly do you do?" Bridger asked,

    "If I told you, I'd have to kill you!" Baz replied.

    "That's so unoriginal." Lucas stated.

    "That's about as original as the 'Why did the chicken cross the road?' jokes." Matt put in.

    Lucas suddenly felt very thirsty and excused himself to get a drink. While he was away, Matt was eagerly watching Lucas's movements.

    "I think he's gonna get a drink… Yes, he is!"

    "You're evil, you know that?" Baz put in.

    "You wanna help me?" Matt suggested.

    "Yeah, why not?" Nathan and Kristen had gone to get ready and the rest of the crew had began their own separate conversations all except Ben, Tim and Miguel, who were listening into Baz and Matt's conversation with interest.

    "Would someone like to explain why you two are getting so hyped up about Lucas getting a drink?" Ben asked, clearly confused.

    "Well, me and Baz do this thing where every time Lucas gets a drink and starts to drink it, we have to make him choke on it by shouting 'Don't choke, Lucas!' ya' wanna help us?" Matt explained. "I know it sounds mean, but it really is funny."

    "I will," Ben immediately volunteered. Tim and Miguel shook their heads.

    "Ok, so when he's got a sip of drink in his mouth shout it and he gets absolutely hysterical and chokes. Ok here he comes. Don't say anything." Matt concluded.

    Lucas sat down, unaware that he was being closely observed. He started to sip from the juice and as soon as he had a large gulp of the juice in his mouth, Ben, Baz and Matt shouted as loud as they could,

    "Don't choke, Lucas!"

    Lucas of course did choke and had hysterics at the same time, while Baz moaned at the teen for not being able to control himself in public. Ben and Matt started to laugh so hard, tears come to their eyes and started to trickle down their faces. Lucas had stopped choking and laughing by this time.

    "You're so mean! I should have remembered that by now, but still! You're mean." Lucas moaned good naturedly.

    "Ah! I'm sorry." Baz said.

    "Yeah, until I try and take a sip of something else then you'll do exactly the same thing." Lucas pretended to sulk.

    "You have to admit it was quite funny." Ben observed.

    "We're gonna be late, if you're not careful. It's coming up to half nine." Barry warned them, appearing suddenly behind Lucas and making him jump. At this comment, the crew hurriedly glanced at their watches and left, cramming anything they had left on their plates and into their mouths. Matt, Emily and Lucas left the dining room together, chatting animatedly.

    "So which one's your room then?" Lucas asked. "I mean, you already know mine."

    "It's along this corridor, room 101." Matt showed Lucas, pointing to a corridor adjacent to the where they were standing.

    "Anyway, I gotta go, see ya' later!" Lucas waved and ran off t o find his own room.

***

    Lucas hurriedly got ready. Bridger was already ready by the time Lucas reached their room.

    "Come on, you're gonna be late if you're not careful!" Bridger cried, fastening his tie in front of a mirror.

    "Me? Late? Never!" The teen yelled before dashing into the bathroom. Bridger just shook his head in despair. Amazingly, Lucas was ready in time.

***

    "OK people!" Bridger yelled, trying to make himself heard above all the other people in the hired out hall. "Now, all of you are going to be split into different groups to do different activities. Crocker, Krieg and Hitchcock are group 1. Ford, O'Neil and Ortiz are group 2. Kristen, Lucas and I are group 3. This is a team building activity day, so have fun but learn a lot from the leader in control of your group. I'll see you at the end of the day. Any questions?"

    "What time do we meet back?" Crocker asked.

    "Everyone is to meet here at 1200 hours for lunch and then again at 1800 hours in time to go home. You will be given short intervals for resting, should you need them. Anymore questions?" There was a chorus of no sirs and so Bridger suggested, "OK, you're groups are numbered by the huge numbers on the walls. Have fun and I'll see you later. Dismissed."

    The crew split up, each heading to their different destinations. As Lucas walked with Bridger and Kristen, he briefly wondered which group Baz, Matt and Emily were in.

***

    Lucas tried not to yawn for about the twentieth time that day. Their 'leader' called Dawson had insisted on treating every member of the group, especially Lucas, like kids all the time, making Lucas want to hit him. Dawson also couldn't remember Lucas's name properly and kept calling him Sandy, on the account of his sandy coloured hair. He had not been impressed and Lucas almost lost his temper several times.

    "Team-work is about working together in a _team. Now can anyone explain what a team is?" The guide droned on. "Sandy, why don't you have a go at explaining what team work means to you?"_

    Lucas sighed before saying,

    "My name's Lucas and team work is where you work together to achieve a goal or a target set."

    "Exactly right! Now, can you give me an example of team work?" Dawson smiled at Lucas. Lucas was just about to reply, when he heard his name being called. Looking up he saw his uncle, Baz standing next to him.

    "Excuse me, I just need to borrow him for a second." Baz sounded very distressed and looked around anxiously at the group. The guide nodded his assent and Baz took Lucas off to a private room at the back of the conference centre.

    "What's wrong? What is it?" Lucas could see whatever the news was, it was bad.

    "I just got a letter and, I really don't know how to say this but…" Baz paced around, trying to figure a way to say what he knew would come as a big shock to the teen.

    "I've got a letter from Blackstone," Lucas froze. Blackstone was the name of the prison, where his father was currently serving 10 years in. Baz took a deep breath. "I'm afraid your father died last week in prison. He was murdered." Baz let the news slowly sink in, he wasn't sure how his young charge was going to react to this news. "I'm so sorry."

    Lucas just sat there, repeating the same phrase over and over again in his mind,

   'I'm free, free at last,'

    Baz watched the Lucas rock slightly before bursting into tears and collapsing into a nearby chair all at once. The elder man sat on the arm of the chair and embraced the younger man, softly stroking his hair. Lucas started to shake, as though he was cold so Baz took off his fleece and put it round the youth. Slowly he stopped shaking and remained quiet in Baz's embrace. Then quietly he said,

    "You know, I'm glad he's dead. Does that make me a horrible person?" Lucas chuckled slightly.

    "No, not at all. What he did to you was horrific and you have every right to feel glad." Baz comforted. Lucas frowned, he could always tell when there was something his uncle wasn't telling him, or leaving out.

    "How did he die?" Lucas asked.

    "He… He was murdered after allegations were made that he raped a female inmate." Lucas closed his eyes, letting all the information slowly sink in.

    "Did he do it?" Lucas finally opened his eyes and looked into Baz's face.

    "No, they found out something important… Something that your mom wanted to keep from you so she made me promise not to tell you. I won't break that promise, but it's come as a shock to me too, cos I only found out… Well I knew part of it, but not all of it and…" Realising his uncle was blabbing, Lucas cut him off by quietly saying,

    "Baz, what is it?"

    Baz stopped talking and gave Lucas an envelope, with the Blackstone prison mark on it. Carefully, he took out the letter and read down it. At the end, he was glad he was sitting down; otherwise he would have fallen down.

    "Sexually incompetent? That means… He wasn't my father? Who was then?" Lucas looked at Baz for an answer.

    "I'm not 100% certain…" Baz started.

    "I don't care about being 100% certain. Who is he?" Lucas exploded, unable to control his anger.

    "Me."

TBC…

I know this is a really mean place to end it, but what can I say? I'm an ELFer and it's my job to be mean. 

Sorry these parts are taking so long, only I've got mocks exams starting on Monday for two weeks and I'm finding it hard to work on this at the same time. I'm hoping to have the next part up sooner.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19.

    Lucas looked in shock at the man he thought he knew and watched as he transformed right in front of his eyes. He wanted to believe, but he had been hurt too many times before in the past and his mind was refusing to believe what Baz was telling him.

    "What?"

    "I said I might be your father. Oh boy, this is complicated!" Baz sat down in a chair opposite Lucas. "Well, I don't know if you know this but I worked for your mum for three years. During that time we became really close friends and I also found myself falling in love with her, but I was too shy to tell her." 

    "She was very quiet and nervous when Lawrence was around, but we went out of the house when he was out, Cynthia could relax. She didn't see many people, she'd either lost touch over the years or Lawrence forbade her to see them. Anyway, Lawrence was away again on business when I noticed a bruise on her face. I asked her about it and, she was so scared she told me that Lawrence had hit her but it was the first time he'd done it. I made her promise to tell me if he did it again."

    "A couple of weeks later, I was sacked and, somehow Lawrence had found out and forbade me to see her. It was about a month after that when Cynthia came to my house, she was crying. He'd done it again, but this time it was a lot worse and he'd almost broken her arm. I tried to persuade her to leave him, but she wouldn't. Too stubborn. Anyway, we got talking and well, one thing led to another and… Um… Well… after that, we…You know?"

    Lucas guessed the next part and nodded.

    "Well, we became more than just friends and would meet every day when Lawrence went away. Anyway the next thing I know, Cynthia suddenly breaks up with me out of the blue and says that she and Lawrence were trying for a baby and now she was pregnant. I didn't think… She never told me..."

   "Anyway, after you were born, I came to visit regularly to help your mother looking after you. Then two years later; Cynthia turns up at my doorstep and says she's leaving him, but she needed to collect the stuff from the house. She wanted me to look after you while she had gone to tell him the news. Apparently he hadn't been going to 'business trips' but had various affairs with different women. Anyway she came back with the bags and we moved far away, where she met Matt's father a couple of years later and married him." Baz concluded at last.

    Lucas just sat in shock; trying to absorb the information he'd just been told. Baz was his father? Well nothing had been confirmed, but it sure did look that way. Suddenly Lucas felt angry, Baz had been lying to him all this time.

    "Why didn't you tell me this before?" Lucas nearly shouted.

    "I didn't know, all right…" Baz tried to defend himself.

    "Well, you still could have told me about the affair and not wait until _he's dead before…" Lucas was on the verge of hysterics and was taking out his anger on Baz._

    "I made a promise to Cynthia; she made me promise not to tell you about the affair. I didn't have a choice in the matter." Baz calmly tried to explain to the angry teen.

    "You still could have told me!" Lucas cried before running out of the room as fast as he could and slamming the door behind him, the letter still in his hand.

    Baz sat on the chair in shock, still trying to figure out what had just happened. He buried his head in his hands and for the first time in a long time, he began to cry, mumbling,

    'I'm sorry Cynthia, I'm _so sorry.'_

***

    Lucas ran blindly down the corridor, tears stinging his eyes and slowly spilling down his face. He ran round the conference centre, glad of its size and the lack of people he met. Eventually Lucas collapsed in a corridor, near a kitchen somewhere in the building.

    'How could he? I thought that _monster was my father when all along it was Baz.' Thoughts of Baz and his treachery echoed around his mind. 'Years of abuse that didn't have to happen if only…'_

    Lucas's morbid thoughts were cut off by the sound of a bell ringing, signifying that lunch was ready. Lucas didn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment, so he decided to rest having spent most of his energy sprinting around the building.

***

    "So has anyone seen Lucas recently?" Matt asked when he didn't see Lucas anywhere around.

    "I don't know, Baz took him away to talk to him and we haven't seen him since," Bridger replied. "Baz looked pretty worried, so I'm guessing it wasn't good news."

    "Ok," Matt raised a questioning eye brow. 

    "So where did they go?" Ben asked.

    "Oh, Baz's probably talking to Lucas about something or the other." Emily reasoned.

    "Or maybe not," Matt said, as he noticed Baz walk through the door alone. Sighing, Matt walked over to Baz. "Hi! Are you forgetting someone?"

    "No, I don't know where he went." Baz looked around, but there was still no sign of Lucas.

    "None of his friends have seen him either. Do you want me to look for him and you get something to eat? I've already eaten." Matt offered.

    "Yeah, could you? That'd be great. Oh and he's gonna be upset so be warned. I've had to give him some bad news and I'm not sure he'll ever talk to me again. He's more likely to trust you." Baz smiled weakly and Matt realised he'd been crying.

    "You Ok?" Matt asked.

    "Yeah, well. I've been better. Thanks. Good luck." The pair parted to go about their different tasks.

***

    Matt was getting annoyed. He'd looked almost everywhere for Lucas and there was no sign of him. 'Oh well, only a couple of places to look now. He sure does know how to hide.' Turning the corner and matt thought he could hear a muffled sound. He knew Lucas was near.

     Following the sound, Matt hurried down the corridor and followed it to the right. There he found his kid brother huddled against the wall in tears. He looked so small and fragile that Matt was unsure how to approach him at first. Matt carefully called the youngster's name, to make sure he was aware of the elder man's presence. He sat down beside the crying bundle and hugged Lucas, who buried his face and cried even harder into his chest.

    "Hey, what's wrong?" Matt coaxed his kid brother. "What are you crying for?"

    Lucas didn't respond at first, so Matt began to rock him gently from side to side, like he used to when Lucas was younger.

    "It's not fair!" Lucas finally stated, lifting his face up into his face his brother and blinking his big blue eyes.

    "What's not fair?"

    "Have you ever thought you knew someone and then found out that you didn't know them at all?" Lucas paused.

    "Yeah, I did." Matt paused; his eyes suddenly became distant, as though it still hurt him to remember. "One time in training, we discovered that someone was leaking information from us to the enemy about our training tactics and plans. We discovered… it was my best friend Cameron, and he nearly got me killed because one of the plans he had leaked was a mission I went on. They ambushed us and I discovered that my best friend had used me as a friend." Matt almost spat out the word 'friend' and shook off the trance he had slipped into. "Why? Has this got anything to do with Baz and why he looked so upset?"

    Lucas bowed his head at the mention of Baz's name and Matt realised that was part of the problem. Lucas fished out a letter he had in his pocket with the Blackstone logo on it and let Matt read it. When he had finished, Matt looked a bit shocked. Lucas then added,

    "And I found out that my real father is actually Baz, a small fact he forgot to tell me." Lucas fell silent before saying, "I mean, I thought I could trust him, I tell him all my secrets and then suddenly it's like, oh and by the way I forgot to tell you… I'm your father." Lucas relapsed into silence again. This time Matt spoke,

    "I thought that was your dream, to have Baz as your father. Isn't that what you always used to say when you were younger? How you always wanted to be Baz's son? And now you are, so what's stopping you from making your dream come true? Because that's what is happening now. Your dream is coming true. Don't push away what could be your only chance, I mean at the moment both of you are hurting because neither of you have talked this through. From the sounds of things, Baz only found out at the same time you did and don't forget he's trying to adjust to this as well. You don't have to go around calling him dad because he's your father. You _both have to talk about this and sort things out together. Ok? You feel hurt by him not telling you this, but he broke a promise and he probably feels as vulnerable as you do now. Baz won't hurt you like you've been hurt before. Don't you see? Baz was trying to spare your feelings because he didn't want you to suffer." Lucas listened to Matt's words of wisdom. He had never thought about it from Baz's point of view before, but was still too bitter to think about anything else other than Baz's betrayal. "Do you feel ready to go back and at least __talk to him, or not?" Lucas nodded his head in agreement. "Ok, so how do we get out of here?"   _

    Lucas just shrugged his shoulders and hugged Matt again. The elder brother sighed, and tried to figure out a way to the hall using the out of date map he had been given by the guide.

***

    "Where did Matt go?" Emily asked Baz as he sat down with the tray of food.

    "He went to find Lucas. I had to give him some bad news and he ran out. I've been searching for him since, with no luck. I just hope Matt has more luck than I've been having." Baz explained more to his food than anyone else. He thought, 'I hope Matt can talk to him, I don't want Lucas to hate me for the rest of our lives.'

    Baz drifted off into a daze, staring at the wall in front of him and began to dissect his food rather than eat it. He didn't hear the conversation generated by the crew and Emily; he didn't hear anyone who tried to talk to him nor did he notice when Matt and Lucas walked through the door half an hour later animatedly chatting to one another and got his lunch. Lucas stopped when he spotted Baz sitting with his friends, unsure of what to do next. Baz hadn't seen the pair, as he had his back towards the door but the some of the crew members had spotted him and called to him.

    "Hey, we're over here! Where've you been?" Ben shouted from where he sat. Baz looked up at Lucas and for a moment their eyes connected. He sat down opposite Baz.

    "You know, here and there." Lucas replied, finally looking around at the group of people around him, before tucking into his 'meal'. Matt sat down beside Lucas.

    "So. What did I miss? Anything interesting?" Matt asked, taking the attention off Lucas momentarily.

    "Yeah, you missed a stampede of elephants rushing through the lunch hall, a lion asking for directions, but apart from that, nothing at all." Emily replied, making Lucas choke on the drink he started to swallow. Matt laughed at the teen.

***

    Lucas didn't feel like talking to Baz just yet, he was still too bitter and resentful at Baz's betrayal. Although Matt's talk had eased some of the pain, the hurt was still there for Lucas and every time he even thought of Baz, his chest grew tighter and his breathing became laboured again.

    Baz, realising Lucas wasn't going to talk to him anytime soon, had left quite soon after the youth had sat down at the table. Only Matt seemed to notice Baz's abrupt departure and sighed quietly, knowing he had done all he could do for now to ease the current situation.

TBC…

Hope you like it. I probably won't be able to do any more work on this till next weekend, so _hopefully I should have the next part up around then._


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20.

   It was late into the night when the SeaQuest crew got back to their hotel. They had been held up in traffic for over half an hour, before the police got the roads moving. Baz, Matt and Emily had been held up at the conference and weren't going to be back till much later, much to Lucas's relief.

    "All I want to do is lie down, go to sleep and never wake up again. Remind me, why are we doing this?" Ben asked anyone who was listening.

   His question remained unanswered as Ben found his shared hotel room and let himself in, still complaining loudly as he closed the door behind him. Soon everyone was in their shared rooms and not a sound was to be heard from any of the rooms.

***

    Tim woke up suddenly, his heart racing. He glanced at the clock, which read 8:00. He looked around the room, sensing that something was wrong but not realising what. Miguel, he noticed, had already gone. He rested his head against the pillow again, knowing that his mind wouldn't allow him any more rest. As his eyes flicked around the room, he noticed that there was a piece of paper on the floor with his name on it. Compelled by curiosity, Tim climbed slowly out of bed and over to the paper. Opening it up, he barely suppressed a gasp as he read the threatening words,

_Watch out, I'm about and whoever I find it will suffer the consequences!_

    Tim felt dizzy, who would do such a thing? He knew none of his friends would and began to feel threatened by the mystery note sender. Tim began to shiver, as he suddenly became aware that he was standing in the middle of the hotel room with only his pyjamas on. Trying to forget about the note, he had a shower.

***

    Forgetting about the note seemed to be harder than Tim imagined and he was still thinking about it when he got his breakfast and sat down with his friends. Matt and Emily were sitting by Lucas, as usual but there was strangely no sign of Baz.

    "Morning, sleepy head," Ben commented, as he saw Tim sit down beside Miguel. Tim just grunted his reply, looking slightly disorientated in Ben's opinion.

    Tim watched the conversation flow past him and, as his head was filled with different theories about the note sender. He didn't even notice when Bridger called his name several times, until Miguel poked him in the ribs.

    "Tim, you OK? You seem kind of distant." Bridger asked, concerned about the lieutenants quiet behaviour. Matt and Emily had left and it was just the SeaQuest crew sitting at the table. Tim felt over whelmed as he felt all eyes boring into him.

    "Well… Um, yeah. I'm fine. Tim stammered. "I guess I still haven't recovered from yesterdays conferences yet!"

    Bridger seemed to accept the explanation, with some difficulty. Looking round the table, Tim was glad to see everyone else had carried on with their separate conversations. His gaze fell upon Lucas, who was still staring into space. The door to the restaurant suddenly opened and Baz entered. Tim noticed that as soon as Baz went to get his breakfast, Lucas slipped silently out of the room. It didn't take long for the elder man to figure something had happened between the two.

***

    After the conference, it was plain for all to see that something wasn't right between Lucas and his uncle. Every time Baz tried to approach Lucas, the youth would deliberately walk off in the other direction. The crew could see that Baz was hurt deeply by the rejection, but refused to talk to anyone about it.

   That night in their hotel room, Bridger decided to talk with Lucas. He sat on the bed and waited patiently for his room mate to return from the restaurant. He didn't have to wait long before the door opened and closed and Lucas entered. He noticed Bridger sitting on the bed straight away.

    "Hi. What have I done wrong now?" Lucas began. He could tell from the look on Bridger's face that he wasn't going to like the topic of discussion.

    "What's going on between you and your uncle?" Bridger replied, after motioning for the teen to sit down on the bed next to him.

    "I don't want to talk about it." Lucas replied shortly and turned towards the bathroom.

    Bridger studied the teen silently, before saying.

    "You know he is concerned about you. You could tell that from the beginning, and whatever it is that's going on between you is really hurting the both of you. Anyone can see that."

    "What do you know about it? You only met him a couple of days ago!" Lucas was beginning to get annoyed and the elder man realised he had hit a nerve.

    "What's wrong?" Bridger tried again.

    "It's none of your business!" Lucas was nearly yelling now. "What I do with my life is up to _me and nobody else. If I don't want to talk to someone, that's __my problem. Nobody else's."_

    "Fine." Bridger could see he wasn't going to get any answers when Lucas was in this mood and allowed him to temporarily escape to the safety of the shower.

***

    That night, Lucas found it difficult to empty his mind of thoughts and drift off to sleep. His mind kept returning to the conversation he had with Bridger and, more importantly, to Baz. He hid his pain during well during the day, but it was the nights that he felt pain over the betrayal. The rational part of him desperately wanted to tell Baz he was sorry and that it wasn't his fault, but the other part wanted nothing more to do with him. 

    Lucas sighed, rolling over to face the wall and wishing that life would somehow become less complicated. At last the troubled youth fell into a restless sleep.

TBC…

Sorry this part took longer than expected to finish. I'm on half term, so the next part shouldn't be too hard to do, but I'm not making any promises. Also my computer's on the blink (Well broadband anyway). The next part should be more interesting (I hope).


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

    No sooner than Lucas had gone to sleep, he was rudely awakened by a loud banging on the door. Looking round the room, he noticed it was still dark and the clock on the table read 3:30. Lucas was glad when Bridger was the one who got out of bed and opened the door. Listening from his bed, Lucas easily recognised Matt's strained and worried voice.

    "What's going on? It's three thirty in the morning; you'd better have a good excuse for waking us up." Bridger grumbled.

    "I need to speak to Lucas. It's urgent." Matt looked desperate.

    "OK, come in." Bridger sighed; it was going to be a long night he could tell.

    Spotting Lucas watching him with acute interest from his bed, Matt went to sit on his bed. Lucas sat up to make room for his brother to sit down on his bed; he could tell this was important. The elder brother was nervous and that was a bad sign Lucas could tell.

    "There's been an accident… At the conference. Baz somehow got hit on the head and they had to take him to the hospital. It's pretty serious." Lucas went deathly pale at the mention of the word hospital. "Well, come on then! Get a move on."

    Lucas quickly changed into the first thing his hand found, while Matt talked to Bridger and giving the youth time to change without an audience. When he had completed his task, Lucas walked over to Matt and Bridger who were still talking.

    "OK, we'd better get going. Emily is at the hospital and she said she'll ring us when the doctor can give us any information. I don't want to leave her there too long." Matt explained, already half way out the door and dragging Lucas with him. Lucas just had time to wave at Bridger before he was dragged along the hallway and out the door.

***

   The mood in the car was subdued. When they reached the hospital, there hadn't been any word from Emily and this part worried Matt even more. Usually if they didn't hear from the doctors or were allowed to see him that meant something bad Matt knew from experience. He didn't tell Lucas his fears, as he wasn't sure how he would react. Matt wasn't sure how his kid brother was coping at the moment with Baz and the argument.

    "You OK?" Matt finally asked.

    "What do you think? I was woken up in the middle of the night and told that Baz is hurt but aside from that not knowing any more details. You?" Lucas almost snapped.

    "Oh yeah, I'm fine because this is how I love to spend my nights. Driving to the hospital." Matt retorted before taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to say that."

    Lucas looked over at Matt before dropping his head down and mumbling,

    "Me too!"

    Pulling into a car parking space, they walked a couple of blocks to the hospital, knowing they wouldn't get a space at the hospital car park. The pair dashed to the relative's room, where they met Emily.

    "Any news?" Matt cried after hugging his fiancée.

    "Nothing yet, but they said they'd keep us informed once they know how he is." Emily replied, the strain of being the message bearer showing on her face.

    "Hey, it's gonna be OK." Matt reassured her. She nodded her agreement.

    Sitting down, the three of them prepared to wait for any news. After half an hour, Matt decided to purchase hot drinks for everyone. By the time he arrived back, Emily had disappeared but left a note behind. Lucas had fallen asleep in the hospital chair. Grimacing, Matt knew Lucas would be uncomfortable by the time morning came. Watching Lucas sleep, he looked so peaceful and calm. Not wanting to wake him, Matt gently placed his coat protectively over the sleeping form and sat down in a chair opposite, sipping his coffee.

***

    It was six in the morning before the doctor notified them of Baz's condition. Doctor Roosevelt looked haggard.

    "I'm afraid I have some good and bad news for you." This grabbed their attention and all sleep vanished from their eyes immediately. "The good news is that Mr Sunderland is alive. The bad news is that he is in a coma after receiving a blow to the back of the head." He allowed the news to sink in before continuing. "I'm afraid he's unconscious at the moment and we are unsure as to when, if ever, he is going to wake up. Sometimes it takes two, three days. Others it can take years. The longer he stays unconscious, the more chance of having brain damage is increased."

    "Thank you doctor." Matt said.

    Lucas became deathly pale at the mention of brain damage. No one really noticed, as they were still contending with their own demons. Lucas suddenly felt short of breath as though he had just run a marathon and, trying to stand up, the shocked youth suddenly collapsed, banging his head painfully on the arm of the chair.

***

    When he woke up, the first thing Lucas saw was his brother staring intently at him. Still feeling a bit dizzy, Lucas drew a hand to his head and croaked for some water, which his brother immediately brought him.

    "How are you feeling?" Matt asked.

    "I've been better." Lucas mumbled.

    "You gave us a shock earlier with your fainting antics." Emily added.

    "What can I say? I have a flair for dramatics" Lucas weakly smiled. "And what do you mean, earlier?"

    "You were unconscious for five hours." At Lucas' shocked look, Matt quickly explained, "But some of that was probably down to tiredness too. By the way, Barry's here. He wanted to see you, but he wasn't allowed to because he wasn't family. He said he'll try and sneak in later!"

    Lucas smiled. Doctor Roosevelt appeared in the doorway behind Matt and started to do some tests on Lucas's reactions to ensure that there was no permanent damage caused.

    "How many fingers am I holding up?" The doctor tested.

    "He wouldn't know that anyway!" Matt teased, earning a scowl from both Lucas and the doctor.

    "I want to keep you in here for a bit longer. I don't think there's any lasting damage but it's better safe than sorry I always say." The doctor looked at Matt. "Don't over excite him; otherwise he _won't be going home today."_

    After the doctor had left, Emily commented,

    "Well, you certainly made a good impression on him!"

    "I prefer to call it my charm." Matt countered.

    Listening to their gentle teasing, Lucas suddenly began to feel tired again and before he realised what was happening, he had fallen asleep. Matt and Emily looked down at the sleeping form and their hearts melted. Adjusting the covers so it covered more of Lucas, Matt gently kissed Lucas's forehead.

    "'Night kiddo!" Matt softly whispered. He had been so scared when he had seen Lucas fall and not get up again and hadn't moved from Lucas's bedside in five hours despite the constant suggestions about food from Emily and Barry. Barry, at this moment, was sitting with Baz and Emily went to tell Barry that Lucas had woken up. She looked at her fiancée, who was still sitting at his brother's bed side and hoping he would wake up soon.

TBC…

Ha, ha, ha! Poor old Baz and Lucas! What can I say? I'm an ELFer. It's my job to be mean.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Four hours later, Lucas had woken up again. He was feeling much better and, to Matt's delight, he wasn't going to be kept in over night.

    "Well that's a lucky break; I don't have to explain to your doctor friend why I haven't brought you back with me if I go back tonight!" Matt joked.

    "I bet she's going to want to poke and prod me a lot when I get back though. It seems like it's a favourite pastime of hers." Lucas grumbled.

    "Sounds interesting," Matt remarked. "Well, this is Baz's room. Number 208." He noticed that Lucas had gone pale and was worried that Lucas might faint again, sat him down on a near by chair. "Hey, what's wrong?"

    "I… I don't know if I can go in there! I mean, after the fight and all… What if he never wakes up…? Or he wakes up and he's brain damaged or something… What if…?" Lucas put his face in his hands and began to cry. He looked heartbreakingly small and innocent that Matt couldn't help but gather the crying bundle up and hug him close to himself.

    "Hey, you're worrying too much about the 'what ifs'. You know Baz. He's a survivor and he's gonna pull through this." Matt comforted. "Life is like an adventure playground and at the moment Baz is under a monkey bar and he can't quite do this monkey bar by himself and needs _our help to get his head over the bar because this bar is a bit bigger than the other bars he's been handed before. He needs our help to reach down through the bars and lend him a helping hand. That's all. He'll be fine."_

    "What happens if he's not?" Lucas asked drearily, but the hope had returned into his eyes.

    "He will. I'm sure about it." Matt reassured the youth.

    "Stupid monkeys. Why can't they keep their bars to themselves?" Lucas asked, deadly serious.

    "I don't know. You'll have to ask a monkey about that one." Matt replied, chuckling slightly. "You ready to go in now?" Lucas nodded.

***

    Lucas was petrified. This was the closest he had been to Baz in the last couple of days and, even though he was unconscious, he was still nervous about the meeting. Emily and Barry were already inside. Matt and Lucas crept inside, not wanting to disturb the silence.

    "Hey Lucas, how you doing?" Barry asked from Baz's bedside. "You gave me a shock when these two told me what happened."

    "I'm okay now thanks." Lucas replied, walking slowly to where Baz lay.

    He stopped when he could see the pale, lifeless form that was Baz. He was shocked. He didn't even know so much medical equipment existed and it was all connected to Baz. The teen had never seen him looking so quiet, it was almost unnatural. Retreating a couple of steps, Lucas bumped into Matt, who led him to a chair next to Emily. Emily hugged Lucas comfortingly, while Matt swapped places with Barry at the bed side. Matt gently sighed; he knew it would take a long time for Lucas to get used to being in the same room with Baz.

***

    By the time visiting hours had ended, Lucas still hadn't plucked up the courage to go near Baz. He just sat in the corner, almost as pale and lifeless as Baz was and stared into space. He refused to even talk to anyone.

    After being thrown out of the room, they were immediately confronted by two detectives. Lucas shrunk back behind the group. He knew from past experience that detectives wanting to speak to them usually meant bad news. He was right.

    "Can we talk to you in private, please?" The first one asked.

    They consented and were led into the relative's room again. Sitting down in chairs opposite the two detectives, they were questioned about the accident. Since none of them had been at the scene, the detectives went straight to the point.

    "I think what happened to Mr Sunderland was no accident. I think that it was set up to make it seem like an accident, but we have found out otherwise." Benson, the first detective delivered the bad news.

    "Not an accident? Who would want to hurt Baz?" Matt asked, shocked for the second time that day.

    "Well, we found a couple of notes in the back of his pocket when he was brought in and, upon examining the box which fell on him was too heavy to have accidentally fallen down. It took two men to get it off him in the first place." Paulson added.

    "Do any of you recognise these notes? These were found in his back pocket." Benson asked, laying out two notes in plastic bags on the table in front of them. They read "_Keep what you value nearby, or YOU'll be the one to pay! And __"Don't trust people to look after your valuables, they always come back damaged."_

     Emily, Barry and Matt all shook their heads to the policeman's question. Lucas stared intently at the first letter, too scared to say anything. The policeman noticed Lucas didn't say anything and asked him,

    "Do you know anything about these notes? It might help us to catch whoever did this if you do."

    Lucas snapped out of his trance and shook his head, too frightened to do anything else. His gaze remained fixated on the note. Benson didn't accept Lucas's answer but figured that he had put enough pressure on the kid already.

    "Well, if you do remember anything, you can contact us on this number." Here he passed a business card to Matt. "I need a current address for all of you and I'm afraid you can't leave the country for any reason. Is that understood?" He sternly explained.

    "Well, at the moment we're staying at the Ocean View Hotel for conferences. You can reach us all their." Barry explained, and gave their names and room numbers.

    "Ok, I'll be in contact soon." They shook hands and the friends exited the room.

    After they had gone, the policemen talked about their suspicions.

    "I think that kid was lying when he said he didn't know anything about that note." Benson stated.

     "Yeah, he definitely knows something. But what else can we do? If we put pressure on him, the others would have yelled at me for putting too much pressure on him. We just have to wait and see if he volunteers any information." Paulson snorted.

    "Wolenczak? Why does that name sound so familiar? I've definitely heard that name before. Do background searches on all of them, but especially Wolenczak. I want to know why that name sounds so familiar."

    Their discussion over, the pair walked out the room, knowing that wasn't going to be the last discussion they would have with them.

TBC…

Oops! I was reading back and I haven't said why the police moved the traffic. Well, it was because there was an accident on the road and the police were helping moving the traffic along and to clear up the accident. Sorry about the gaps in getting the parts up, only every time I type the log in psswd and addrs, it shuts down the screen.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

    It was eight before the group reached the hotel. They were tired out and just wanted to go to sleep, the day's events catching up with them. Lucas suddenly realised that he hadn't got the room key. Cursing himself silently, Lucas asked at the reception desk if Bridger was in his room. Lucas was relieved to hear that he was.

    Plodding to his shared room, Lucas knocked on the door and was in the middle of yawning when Bridger opened the door.

    "I think you're yawn says it all. Come in and get straight to bed. You've had a busy day." Lucas rolled his eyes, Bridger sounded so parental at times and this happened to be one of those times.

    "Yes dad!" Lucas entered the room and changed into his pyjamas in the bathroom. When he came out, Bridger asked,

    "How did you get that bruise on your forehead…? It looks quite nasty, maybe you sound get Kristen to take a look at it?"

    "No it's OK. When I banged my head, the doctors at the hospital looked at it and they wouldn't have let me out if it wasn't." Lucas commented.

    "Well you certainly banged your head in the right place." Bridger joked. Sobering up, he asked, "How is he?"

    "He's in a coma at the moment and they're not sure if he's gonna wake up…They said the longer he stayed unconscious, the more chance there is of him getting brain damaged." Lucas somehow managed to keep the tears at bay. "I'll be OK." Lucas added, as he read Bridger's thoughts. He didn't want to mention the part about Baz's accident not being an accident just yet.

    "You can take as much time off as you need. He'll pull through, I'm sure of it…You must be shattered! Go on, get some sleep." Bridger advised.

    Lucas numbly nodded and fell fast asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. Bridger looked at the troubled teen, and his heart melted at the sight.

    "'Night, kiddo." Bridger whispered before he went to find Kristen and to tell her of the update on Baz. He knew Kristen ha taken Baz's accident pretty hard, as she still hadn't made up with Baz about the accusation.

***

    The next day, Lucas awoke and was blinded by the sun poring through his window. Glancing at his watch, it read eleven. Groaning, Lucas knew he would have to wake up. Bridger had already left the room. Just then a flash of white caught his attention from the corner of his room. It was another piece of paper with his name with his name printed on top. Breathing heavily, Lucas crept over to the note and slowly read the words. It read:

_"Poor old Baz is going to join your mother. Who is going to be next?"_

    Lucas paled dramatically, but didn't feel like he was going to be sick like last time. Instead he pocketed the note in the back of his pocket, copying Baz's actions without realising he had done so.

    A sudden thought struck the youth,

    'Hang on. If one of those letters was mine, who did the other one belong to?' Lucas thought of several possibilities, all of which had Baz as the other note bearer. He sat down suddenly on the bed. 'Why didn't he tell me?' Lucas looked up, determination set in his eyes. 'I'm gonna catch whoever is doing this, with help from my friends.'

TBC… Hope your enjoying this. Sorry this part's a bit short next one should be longer.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

    When Lucas arrived downstairs for lunch, he discovered Matt, Emily and Barry were already down in the restaurant sitting at a table. They waved him over.

    "Hi, we were just discussing about whether we should go and fetch you for some lunch. Obviously we don't need to now!" Matt explained. "Come on, let's get some lunch."

    "You just got down here?" Lucas asked.

    "Yeah, lunch is served from 11:30 in the hotel." Emily explained.

    "Let's hope that the lunch is better than the breakfast anyway!" Barry joked.

***

    Lunch was better than breakfast and soon the group were tucking into an unlimited supply of sandwiches, fruit and cake. They were half way through eating when Benson and Paulson interrupted.

    "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I need to ask Mr Wolenczak a few questions privately." Benson explained.

    "Well, actually Lucas is a minor. I'll have to be present too." Matt explained.

    Benson nodded his assent and the two brothers followed the policemen into a private room the hotel had provided them with. Lucas and Matt sat opposite the two detectives.

    "Well this may bring up some bad memories for the both of you but understand, I have to ask them, OK?" Benson asked. The pair nodded. "Now Mr Wolenczak, can you think of any reason why anyone would want to hurt Mr Sunderland?"

    "No, not that is alive anyway." Lucas replied.

    "I'm assuming you're talking about your father, Mr Wolenczak when you said that?" Benson asked.

    "Yeah," Lucas softly asked.

    "If at any point in this conversation you don't want to answer a question, don't feel pressured to answer it." Paulson intervened. Lucas nodded.

    "How long have you been receiving threatening notes like Baz's?" Benson asked, watching for Lucas's reaction.

    "I… I haven't been receiving any notes," Lucas said, shocked that he had found out so quickly.

    "See now I think you're lying. I think one of those notes we showed you yesterday…" Here Benson laid the two notes on the table in front of them so Lucas could see them. "…Actually belonged to you. So would you like to change your mind on your previous statement, or are you going to stick with what you said?"

    Lucas didn't say anything; he sat and stared at the notes, wanting them to disappear. After a while when he realised they weren't going anywhere, Lucas pointed a shaky finger at the first note and simple said,

    "Mine!"

    Benson sighed with relief. His shot in the dark had worked. Lucas felt embarrassed at having admitted about the notes in front of Matt, but was surprised when his brother pulled him into a tight embrace and began to rock him reassuringly. At first Lucas resisted, but then he relaxed into it.

    "We'll talk about this later," Matt whispered.

    "OK, now these questions are going to bring up some bad memories for Mr Wolenczak in particular." Paulson warned. The pair nodded, still locked in their embrace. "Now we have to do background checks on all the people involved or related to the patient, in this case it was Mr Sunderland. We did one on both of you and…Well, we know about Mrs Cynthia Adamson, formerly Wolenczak. She was your mother?"

    "Lucas's real mother, but she married my dad so she was my mum too." Matt responded for Lucas.

    "And she was murdered was she?" Paulson continued.

    "Yes," Matt replied, since Lucas looked petrified. "Can we take a short break now alone? I don't think that he is going to answer any more questions in his present state." The detectives consented and left the pair alone to talk.

    Matt looked down at the shaking bundle that was his brother. He looked traumatised from the first mention of his mother. It was apparent that he, like himself and Baz, hadn't gotten over the death of his mother and Matt wished that Baz was here. He had always been good with Lucas in these types of situations and Matt was too scared of making mistakes. Knowing he was likely to say something wrong, he gently rocked his brother and mumbled words of comfort hoping he would calm down.

***

    Outside the two detectives were talking about the interview.

    "How did you know about that note being his?" Paulson asked.

    "It was a shot in the dark. I just figured it out from the kid's reaction last night and the hesitation in answering. Last night when we showed him that note, his eyes almost fell out of his head in shock. I think that he gave the note to Mr Sunderland to investigate and someone thought he was getting too close to the truth and silenced him in the only way they could." Benson reasoned.

    "Do you think we pushed him too far?" Paulson pondered. "He seemed to get agitated at the mention of his mother's murder."

    "Well, that would happen if you were the only witness to your mothers murder," Benson sighed, nodding his head towards the room. "He still can't remember anything today and that murder has become an unsolved mystery. I heard they were gonna reopen the case soon."

    "Well, I hope it's not too soon, for his sake." Paulson sympathised.

***

    "You feel like talking to them now?" Matt asked. Lucas shrugged his shoulders. "I've got an idea; we'll talk to them as long as they only ask us questions that will help Baz. OK?" There was only another shrug of the shoulders in response from Lucas and Matt sighed. "You're not talking are you?" There was no answer from the troubled teen, who leaned closer into Matt. "I'll take that as a no then."

***

    Matt carefully explained to the detectives that they couldn't interview Lucas and told them the reason why. They were angry at themselves for having pushed the young man so far but knew there was nothing they could have done to prevent them. Bidding Matt farewell, they left the hotel. Looking at Lucas, Matt said,

    "What am I going to do with you?" Before they walked back to the restaurant together, where the others were worriedly waiting for news.

TBC…


	25. Chapter 25 Im trying to get all of these...

Chapter 25

    Matt was nervous. He knew he was going to have to explain to the SeaQuest why Lucas wasn't talking. He spoke to Lucas through sign language about the notes, but he made sure that his younger brother understood that he wasn't angry at him…That was tricky especially as Lucas had decided at that particular moment he didn't want to look or hear what Matt was saying and had covered his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyes shut. Smiling softly at the memory, and got a couple of strange looks from passers by. He sobered up when he saw the crew approach him and the reception desk.

    "Hello Matt!" Bridger stated, looking a bit tired from the conferences. "Is everything all right?"

    Suddenly feeling intimidated by Lucas's friends, Matt decided it might be easier if he spoke to the Captain alone.

    "Hi! Um…Can I…Um…Speak to you alone, please?" Matt was suddenly nervous.

    "Is it really urgent? Cos I'm really tired…" Bridger started.

    "It's important," Matt stated.

    "Well…OK then." Bridger agreed.

***

    "Well, what did you want to talk to me about?" Bridger started after having being led to the same room the brother's were interrogated in earlier.

    "It's about Lucas. Do you know any sign language by the way?" At Bridger's confused look, the younger man sighed. Matt explained the whole story about the notes and the detectives visit and Lucas's reaction to the questions. Matt hedged around which question it was that Lucas didn't like, as he knew no one on the seaQuest knew about their past. 

    "And now he's not talking?" Bridger asked, genuinely concerned.

    "Yeah, he did it a lot when he got scared by people yelling and stuff, but he hasn't done it in years and usually Baz was the one who got him talking again, but…Well…That's not gonna happen at the moment." Matt sighed.

    "I see why you had to tell me on my own," Bridger stated. "What do you want me to do?"

    "I want you to make him feel loved and wanted. He trusts you. I've already told him off about the notes, but can you tell the crew for me please? You're their commanding officer; they're less likely to beat you up!" Matt pleaded.

    Bridger chuckled slightly before agreeing to Matt's terms and departing company.

***

    When Bridger reached his shared room, he found Lucas already up their. The youth looked like an abandoned rag doll in the position he was sitting on the couch. One leg was on the cushion, while the other dangled off the edge of the couch. The rest of his body was sprawled in the middle of the couch and giving the impression he was watching the TV. Bridger had a suspicion that if he asked the teen what he was watching, he wouldn't have been able to tell him. Upon Bridger's entry, the head had looked round but had almost immediately lost interest.

    "Hey kiddo," Bridger gently approached. "You know I think you've had enough TV for today." 

    Reaching across, Bridger switched the TV off. Lucas didn't even acknowledge the fact that the TV had been switched off. Watching the teen, Bridger crouched down so he was on the same level as the youth and gently began to stroke his hair back away from his face. Lucas's eyes flicked nervously around, as though he didn't know what it was to be loved or cared for.

    "Come on…It's time for bed. You've had a busy day today." Bridger carried on stroking his hair and was surprised when Lucas's hand reached up to take his. The elder man just smiled and accepted the youngster's hand, leading him off the couch and to the bathroom to get changed. When Lucas re-emerged from the bathroom, he climbed into his bed and was surprised when Bridger tucked him in.

    "Wow, I could get used to this…No complaints before getting into bed!" Bridger observed, earning a smile from his charge, who closed his eyes and almost immediately feel asleep. Bridger planted a kiss on the youth's forehead, whispering,

    "Goodnight, kiddo."

TBC…


	26. Chapter 26 A late night meeting and a co...

Chapter 26.

    Later that night, when it was apparent that Lucas wasn't going to wake up for a while, Bridger decided to tell the crew. It was only half six and most of the crew were still having dinner in the restaurant. Spotting both Crocker and Ford at the table in the restaurant with the rest of the crew, he ambled over to them and whispered something in Ford's ear. The man gave his assent and the remaining crew watched with growing interest as Bridger called,

    "Can I have your attention please? I need you all to meet in Mr Ford's room after you have finished your meal." At Ben's confused look, he added, "It's the biggest room here and I don't think I could fit you anywhere else. Thank you." 

    With this, he walked away, leaving a lot of unanswered questions with the crew. He only reached the reception desk when he heard someone calling his name. Turning around, he discovered it was Matt.

    "Mr Bridger, have you seen Lucas?" Matt looked worried.

    "Yes, he's asleep in our room. He was watching TV, but he looked shattered so I made him go to bed." Bridger explained. Matt looked impressed when Bridger said he got Lucas to bed.

    "Thank goodness! I did wonder where he was, but I thought he was with Emily or Barry. I know this may sound like a strange question but was Lucas in his rag doll position when you found him?" At Bridger's confused look, Matt explained, "Well when we were younger and he wasn't talking, he used to lie on the couch and the way Lucas would lay on it made him look like a rag doll."

    "Yes he was as a matter of fact. Why?" Bridger was confused with the current topic of conversation.

    "It may sound really weird, but you can usually tell what type of mood Lucas is in by the position he sits in on the couch. He only does it when he's not talking though. It's something that Baz and I noticed very early on in life." Matt explained with a chuckle. "Are you going up to your room?"

    "No, I'm going to tell the crew about Lucas in one of the rooms." 

    "Well, can I stay with him until you come back? I don't want to leave Lucas on his own because if wakes up and no one's there…" Bridger gave his assent and handed Matt the key.

***

    Bridger stared nervously at the cramped crew in front of him. He knew there was going to be fireworks before the end of this conversation, as everyone adored Lucas. Sighing, Bridger decided to speak.

    "Now I'm sure you're all wandering why I've called you in here. Now do you all know about Lucas's uncle, Baz in hospital? Well last night, at the hospital they were questioned by two detectives. The same two detectives called here today in the hotel to question Lucas…"

    "But Lucas is a minor…They couldn't question him by himself!" Kristen was quick to point out.

    "They didn't, Matt was with him at the time." Kristen looked satisfied with the answer. "Anyway, during the course of the interview the detectives pushed Lucas about two notes found in the back of Baz's pocket and apparently one of those notes was his…" Bridger was again cut off by outraged cries by the crew, all except Tim, who remained quiet.

    "There's something else you're not telling us isn't there?" Kristen noted, silencing the other people, who turned their attention back to Bridger.

    "Yes, I'm afraid there is. After the note incident, the detectives asked some more questions. They pushed too far, I'm afraid, and now Lucas won't talk. According to Matt, he used to do this a lot when he got really scared and wouldn't talk to anyone for days. We're not sure how long Lucas is going to stay like this, it could be a couple of days, and it could be a couple of months. What we need to do is to make Lucas feel loved and wanted. He's going through a tough time at the moment and Matt has already spoken to Lucas about the note so there's no need to mention that to him."

    "Why didn't Matt stop the interview before that? I mean couldn't he see that Lucas was becoming agitated?" Ben almost shouted, voicing the crew's opinion.

    "Matt did everything he could to prevent this, but this came on suddenly and afterwards he stopped the interview. He didn't want this to happen any more than you or I did!" Bridger protected Matt. Ben snorted in response to this comment and mumbled something inaudible. "I'm sorry; did you want to add something to that, Mr Krieg?" The younger man shook his head.

    "Where is he now?" Katie asked.

    "Lucas is asleep in his hotel room and Matt's there keeping him company." Bridger explained.

    "Why didn't he report the note when he first got it?" Crocker wondered.

    "Apparently he did, but to his uncle. That's why it was in his back pocket."

    "That still doesn't excuse his not reporting the note to one of us though!" Kristen mumbled.

     "Well, maybe he didn't want to tell us about the note because he thought we would judge him." Tim put in quietly.

    "We wouldn't have though," Ortiz said.

    "He wouldn't have known that if he was scared and didn't feel like he could fully trust us. I mean, who would you trust? Your friends, who you see everyday or a close member of your family that you don't have to see often?" Tim answered again.

    "Any more questions?" Bridger asked, noticing a few yawns starting up. "Good. You can all go to sleep and ready for the last day of conferences!" There were groans all round at the mention of conferences, but they did start to make a move out of the room without too much fuss.

    Outside the room, Tim ran and caught up with Bridger.

    "Sir! Can…Can I talk to you for a second, please?"

    "Of course you can," Bridger exclaimed.

    "In private I mean." Tim looked desperate and Bridger agreed.

***

    "So you've been receiving these notes as well…"

    "I've only got one so far, sir!" Tim explained meekly.

    "Still it's a note and you got it, I mean if this hadn't come out would you have told anyone then?" Bridger looked angry and Tim looked at the floor, ashamed. 

    "I didn't think it would affect anyone…I'm… I'm sorry!"

    Seeing Tim was already feeling guilty enough as it was, Bridger continued in a less strict voice. "Look, I know this is hard, but you do understand why I'm telling you off? I mean, you could have been injured before we'd even had a chance to realise what was going on." Tim meekly nodded, still looking at the ground. "OK, get some rest and in the morning I'm going to ask round and see if it was only you that had a note, or whether there was more." With that, Tim nodded and walked back to his room. Bridger sighed. Notes and accidents? Something wasn't right and Bridger knew events were going to get worse before they got better.

TBC…


	27. Chapter 27 Heart to heart

Just a quick note, but the parts in italic is where Lucas is using sign language to speak to other people. He still isn't talking.

Chapter 27.

    The next morning, Lucas awoke to find Bridger already up and dressed. He watched as Bridger hurried around the room, making tiny adjustments to both his appearance and the room's. Bridger suddenly turned around and glanced at Lucas. Noting the teen was awake; Bridger walked over to him and crouched beside his bed, so his face was level with the sleepy teen.

    "Hey pal, how are you this morning?" Bridger asked, stroking his hair away from his face. Lucas used sign language to say he was all right. "I spoke to Matt last night. He told me how the detectives pushed a bit too far and about the notes." 

    Lucas looked away at the mention of the detectives, but was surprised when Bridger's hand found its way under his chin and forced the younger man to look at Bridger. 

    "Hey, it's not your fault. I know Matt's spoken to you about the notes so I'm not going to, but I just want you to know that I'll always be here for you and that you can talk to me about anything, OK?" 

    At Lucas's nod, Bridger changed the subject. "How's breakfast sound? I don't know about you, but I'm starving." Lucas eagerly nodded. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get changed and we'll go down to the restaurant!" 

    Bridger chuckled as the teen jumped out of bed and into the bathroom, where he re-appeared fully dressed.

***

    Lucas shrank back when he first looked at his friends talking with his brother, but couldn't move back because he had a tray in his hand and Bridger was standing behind him. Noticing the movement, Bridger was glad when Matt spotted the pair and waved them over. Lucas seemed to relax at the sight of his brother and walked over to the table.

    When they reached the table, Lucas realised that Emily wasn't with them. Looking around, Lucas tried to spot her in the restaurant. Matt glanced at Lucas, trying to figure what his kid brother was doing. When he realised he was looking for Emily, Matt said,

    "You ain't gonna find Emily here, if that's who you're looking for. She and Barry went down early to see Baz…I said we'd catch her up, if that's OK."

    Lucas just nodded, looking at his food more than his elder brother. Matt noticed that Lucas looked more relaxed than he had yesterday. Smiling, Matt was glad that he had confided in Bridger, he could tell that he had grown fond of Lucas. Most people did. After breakfast was finished, Matt told Lucas he would wait for him at the reception desk to take him to the hospital.

***

    At the hospital, they found only Barry in Baz's room.

    "She's gone to get me some coffee," Barry explained about Emily's absence. "She's only just left; you'll probably catch her if you go down the corridor."

    Lucas tugged on Matt's jacket, making the elder brother look down at him.

    "_I'm going to find Emily and get some drinks." Lucas signed. Matt reached into his pocket._

    "OK, don't be long and don't get lost." Matt warned him. Lucas accepted the change and scurried off to get the drinks. Matt watched him tear after Emily with a sad expression on his face. Barry noticed this and asked,

    "What's wrong?"

    "Do you know why Baz and Lucas aren't talking?" Matt spoke finally.

     "Yeah, Baz told me that night. Why?" Barry frowned, trying to figure where Matt was leading.

    "Well, I don't understand it! Lucas told me a million times when we were growing up how he wanted Baz as a father and he acted like it was a big secret…And now when he's got a chance to have Baz as a father, he rejects him. It's like all those things he told me about wanting Baz to be his father is a lie and I don't understand it." Matt began to pace around the room, while Barry watched him carefully.

    "Have you ever thought about it from Lucas's point of view?" Matt looked at Barry, confused. "I mean Lawrence was Lucas' dad right? And look what he did to him. I think Lucas is scared that if Baz _did become his real dad then he will become violent towards him like Lawrence was. You and I both know that Baz won't, but Lucas is confused because Lawrence is the only father figure he's ever had and he doesn't want Baz to turn out like Lawrence did when he's fathering him."_

    Matt looked at Barry, finally understanding that Lucas was pushing Baz away in fear. His train of thought was interrupted by the arrival of Emily and Lucas, with three steaming cups of coffee and one hot chocolate.

    "Drink up, guys!" Emily announced. "While they're still hot."

    They gratefully accepted their drinks and began to slowly sip on them, knowing they would be there almost all day unless something changed. Throughout the day, Emily, Matt and Barry took turns sitting at Baz's bedside and talking to him. Lucas still hadn't plucked up enough courage to do so yet…The betrayal still too fresh in his mind and eventually he fell asleep on the hospital chair.

***

    Lucas awoke suddenly and panicked as he felt like something was pinning him down. Looking around, he realised he was wearing Matt's jacket and it was pulling so tight, it gave the impression he was being pinned down. Releasing the jacket, Lucas suddenly jumped up screaming, as an arm fell and hit him in the face. Sitting in the chair next to him, Matt yelled as his arm hit the wall. He had been asleep until his arm hit the wall. Barry, watching events from a safe distance, sat back in his chair and began to laugh.

    "OW! What did you do that for?" Matt cried, waking up Emily.

    _"I didn't do it on purpose! I just felt an arm hit me in the face, what would you have done?" Lucas signed back._

    Emily tried to hide her laughter, as she realised what had happened and Barry had managed to get his laughter under control by this time.

    "You didn't have to break my arm did you?" Matt carried, knowing it was probably only sprained. "Why do you have to be so violent all the time?"

    "Your arm's not broken; it's probably not even sprained! Now stop being such a baby." Emily said, desperately trying to ease the situation. Matt's words had hurt Lucas badly, Emily could see. 

    "I thought you were supposed to be on my side!" Matt argued.

    "I am on your side!" Emily shot back, but Matt had stormed out the room in a huff. Emily smiled at Lucas quickly before trying to find where Matt had gone, leaving Barry and Lucas alone with Baz.

    "You know he didn't mean it don't you," Barry spoke out. Lucas didn't respond, he just started to pace around the room, trying to ease his anger. "Why don't you come over here?"

    Lucas stopped pacing and stared at Barry, trying to figure out what he was doing. His gaze fell upon Baz and guilt flooded washed over him, making the teen look away.

    "You felt scared when Baz told you he was your father, didn't you? Scared that he would become someone else you didn't want him to. Scared he would become someone like Lawrence was. You panicked and didn't know what to do; you still don't know what to do now, do you? Should you make up with him or stay mortal enemies forever? You're ignoring everything that's happened before the conferences haven't you? How Baz used to take you places and treat you to ice creams? How he looked after you when you needed him, how he rescued you from any more beatings and abuse from Lawrence? How he listened time after time to you after you woke up trembling from yet another nightmare and comforted you, made you feel safe? He saved you Lucas and without him, you wouldn't be half the person you are today...I mean look at you! You're on _seaQuest at the age of 17; you've got lots of friends who care a great deal about you and the captain who adores you. How many other people can say the same thing? Not many I can tell you. Then when you heard that Baz had been injured badly, you felt guilty. Guilty that you hadn't gotten over you're silly little argument with Baz and…"_

    Lucas placed his hands over his ears, trying to block out what Barry was saying.

    "Why don't you want to listen to what I'm saying, is it because it's the truth? You know Baz didn't plan on being you're father. It just happened and your mother never told him the truth until a letter in the post changes all of that. It came as a shock to Baz too, and you know what? Baz is one of the few people who believed in you, even when you didn't want to believe you could achieve something. He was always there, even when you thought he had forgotten you, he hadn't. He fought long and hard to get custody of you. He was there, Lucas. Whether you like it or not, he was always there for you when everyone else had given up. Don't you see?  _Baz was always there for you!" Barry finished._

    Lucas slowly turned to face Barry, tears rolling down his cheek. Then he ran to where Barry sat and hugged him. Barry hugged him back and held him there for a while, gently rocking the teen and murmuring words of comfort in his ear, until he had calmed down.

    "Oh Lucas, what are we going to do with you?" Barry mumbled fondly in his ear.

***

    "Matt! Listen to me!" Emily cried.

    "You were supposed to be on my side," Matt was angry.

    "I don't believe you!" Matt turned to face her for the first time. "I was trying to ease the situation a bit, for Lucas's sake. Didn't you see how he reacted when you yelled at him for being violent? He was scared and hurt; I was trying to appease the situation. I would have thought _you would have understood that of all people. I mean all he did was to have a bad reaction to your hand falling towards his face, and when you've only just woken up and you're still disorientated even I would have panicked too. Think about it, it makes sense."_

    "But he still hurt my hand!" Matt whined.

    "Show me," Emily commanded. Matt did as he was told and as Emily inspected it, she said, "Well, you definitely haven't broken it…If it really does hurt then you've probably just lightly sprained it. I can put a cold compress on it and if it's still hurting, we can get a nurse to put a bandage on it." Emily studied Matt carefully. "Look, I know this is especially hard for you with Baz's situation. I understand that, I mean, before today I'm assuming Baz always comforted you two and Lucas always looked up to you to know what to do and to Baz for answers for the harder questions. Now that Baz is in a coma, you've suddenly been burdened with Baz's job too. That's going to be tough on anybody, but you don't have to do this by yourself, you don't have to hide your grief for Baz and even Lucas, you can share it with me. That's what I'm here for! Just trust me, I might just surprise you."

   Matt studied her for a minute, before his vision clouded and he realised he was crying. Emily leaned her fiancée into a tight embrace, where Matt began to cry harder, but trusting Emily with his grief. Emily murmured words of comfort, as she held Matt, glad he had trusted her.

***

    When Emily and Matt came back, they were surprised to find Lucas sitting on Barry's lap asleep. Barry looked relieved to see them back.

    "I'm so glad you came back, I thought I would have to move him on my own! Can you help me lift him? He's exhausted, poor mite!" Barry explained.

    "How did he get over there?" Matt asked in amazement, already lifting the teen. Lucas stirred, but didn't wake.

    "He walked." Barry replied.

    "You must be a miracle worker or something!" Matt responded.

    "Not really," Barry wouldn't give any more information on the subject though.

    "I'll take a turn now!" Emily volunteered, after ensuring Lucas was safely asleep and not pinned down by the jacket.

    Matt eventually fell asleep, listening to Emily's voice slowly drifting away into the distance.

TBC…


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28.

    Emily smiled at Lucas, as he woke up and began to look around the room.

    "Hey, you OK? Sorry I didn't have time to talk to you earlier today, I had to talk to your brother!" Emily explained, nodding her head towards Matt. "It wasn't your fault he was angry though, he just had a lot on his mind and it all kinda exploded in a big icky mess."

    The explanation of Matt's outburst was comical and brought a smile to Lucas's face. He was glad that his brother wasn't mad at him; he couldn't bear it if they weren't talking. It had been bad enough with Baz, but he couldn't be mad with his only two remaining family members.

    "_I'm OK now. I spoke with Barry earlier." Lucas explained through sign language._

    Lucas, deciding couldn't sit down any longer for fear of getting cramped, decided to walk over to where Baz lay. He stood round the other side of Baz's bed and took hold of his hand. Emily smiled when she saw this and lay her head down on top of Baz's chest. They stayed like that for a few minutes before they heard a groan coming from the bed. Emily's head snapped up and looked at Baz, calling his name.

    "Matt! Barry! Wake up! I think he's waking up, come quick." Emily called.

    The pair jumped to their feet and hurried to Baz's bedside. Lucas began to reassuringly rub the back of Baz's hand. Barry, thinking ahead, ran to get the first doctor or nurse he could find.

    "Come on, Baz. You can do it!" Matt coaxed.

    Eventually Baz opened his eyes and began to look around. The first thing he saw was Lucas, Matt and Emily all stood around his bed, but apart from that he didn't recognise his surroundings.

    "Water, please?" Baz managed to croak.

    Emily grabbed a glass, and making sure he didn't choke or swallow too much, supported the cup as he drank from it.

    "Where am I and did anyone catch the number of the bus that hit me?" Baz croaked again, earning a smile from all the people around him.

    "You're at the Bay View hospital. Can you remember what happened?" Matt responded.

    "No," Baz frowned trying to remember.

    "Well, don't worry. That's perfectly normal for someone in your condition." Doctor Roosevelt suddenly appeared from behind Matt, making Lucas jump. Barry also reappeared next to the doctor. "I'm just going to run a few tests on you, to make sure there isn't any permanent damage." The doctor began to quiz Baz with some straight forward questions, like what the name of the president is and what does the UEO stand for. Baz answered all questions correctly and the doctor announced, "I'm pleased to say you have no immediate memory problems, but you have to remember you're still not out of the woods yet. You've still got to keep up your rest. And don't over tire him. He's only just woken up! Congratulations Mr Sunderland, you are well on the road to recovery." With that the doctor left the group alone.

    "How did I get here?" Baz asked sleepily.

    "Apparently a box was dropped on your head while you were working at the conference…" Baz neglected to mention the bit about the police, as he didn't want to over excite the elder man. The rest of the group, except Lucas lapsed into conversation and soon Baz began to yawn again.

    "I think it's time for someone's beddie-byes!" Matt stated, using an expression that Baz used to pull on the brothers all the time when they were younger. They all laughed at Baz's horrified expression. "Look, it's either you go to sleep now, or we bring Dr Roosevelt in here to sedate you!"

    "OK, you win…I'm going to sleep. Night all." Baz was almost fast asleep before he'd even finished his sentence.

    Not more than half an hour later, the group were thrown out because 'visiting hours' had ended. They didn't mind however, as Baz had woken up and they had something to celebrate and look happy about for the first time in days. The thought of brain damage had loomed over them like a dark shadow, but now Baz had woken up, they knew that wouldn't happen. Not to their Baz.

TBC…

I thought Lucas and the gang needed a bit of happy news to cheer them up.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

    Back at the hotel, Bridger was trying to calm down. In front of him stood Ben, Ortiz, Tim and Katie.

    "So you're trying to tell me, all four of you received a note, but didn't report it? Why not?"

    "I thought it was a joke," Ortiz argued.

    "It wasn't about anyone specific and no one else had said anything about having a note." Katie meekly put in.

    "What, so you were all going to wait until something drastic like this happened before something happened?" Bridger was almost yelling, before mentally calming himself down. "OK, all of you are dismissed, but if I get to hear of one more note being given to one of my crew members, so help them if they don't tell me first!"

    Bridger watched as the four crew members scurried out of the door, before collapsing into the nearest chair. This note business was becoming eerie. Why were so many of his crew getting notes? Five people in the same crew? He could buy one as being a practical joke, but it looked as though they were being targeted for some unknown reason. Bridger sighed, it just wasn't his week. He jumped as the phone rang, before picking it up on its second ring.

    "Nathan, how are you?" It was Noyce.

    "What do you want now, Bill?" Bridger felt depressed.

    "Now, I heard about the Wolenczak boy's uncle being in an accident and how it might not have been an accident…" Admiral Noyce started.

    "Not an accident?" This was the first time he had heard anything about Baz's accident not being entirely innocent. "What do you mean? How do you know this?"

    "I'm an Admiral; I make it my job to know about this sort of thing. Apparently, at the scene of the crime the police were trying to find out what had made the crate tip off the edge, I mean it was a wooden crate and it was quite heavy too. Anyway, the police found evidence that the box had been levered off, using a crow bar, or something to that description."

    "Does Lucas know?" Bridger's mind was in a whirl.

    "Apparently he was told in the interview by the two detectives working on the case the night it happened. I'm sorry Nathan, I thought you knew." Bill apologised.

    "Why are you looking into it? What's so important about this case?" Bridger was suspicious.

    "Well, I can't say at the…" Bill started, but was interrupted by Bridger.

    "No, you listen to me. Five of my crew members have received notes, if this is in any way connected to Baz's accident; I want to know about it." Bill was silent for a moment before nodding his head.

    "OK, I'll tell you but I'll deny this if you ever tell anyone else." Bill was suddenly nervous. "Over the past couple of weeks, there have been reported cases of people quite high up in the UEO ranks, who have been lured into deserted places, before something was dropped on them. No one's been killed yet, but Mr Sunderland's was the serious so far."

    "And you didn't think this information was important enough to tell anyone? Baz could have easily been killed if it had been positioned differently. He was in a coma and…Does Lucas and Baz know about this?" Bridger was looking angry at the ignorance of his friend.

    "He knows about the crate not being an accident, but that's all. Mr Sunderland may know something about the other accidents, but how much I'm not sure." Bill said truthfully. "Listen, I've got the seaQuest docked for repairs at the moment for two weeks and the UEO is happy to pay the cost of your hotel. Whatever you want to do in those two weeks is up to you…" With that, the vid link cut out, signifying that the link had been terminated.

    Bridger sat staring at the empty screen before realising he wasn't going to get any answers from the empty vid link. He told the crew that they were staying an extra two weeks to investigate the notes, before leaving to go to the hospital to visit Baz, but more importantly, Lucas. He was going to have a long, overdue talk with the teen.

TBC…

Poor Lucas is all I can say… Sorry I haven't got many parts up recently, only I'm a bit ill at the moment and find it hard to concentrate for long periods. Anyway, I hope this part lives up to your expectations.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

    The next morning when Baz woke up, he felt more awake than he had done the previous evening. The doctors ran some more tests, to see what he could remember from yesterday. The doctors seemed pleased by the results and allowed him some 'food'. It was supposed to be food, but the result looked more like water with foreign objects sticking out of the top.

    Baz was part way through drinking his food, when Matt, Emily, Barry and Lucas entered the room.

    "Hey Baz, what's up?" Matt called out as a greeting.

    "Nothing much, except this stuff they give you…" Baz trailed off as a nurse walked in the room.

    "It's called soup, now eat it up. It's good for you." Emily abolished him.

    "Have you tried eating this stuff?" Baz quizzed her.

    "Well, we've tried soup before, but ours actually looked like soup and probably tasted a lot better too from the looks of your face." Barry confirmed.

    "Emily and I are going to get some drinks…Who else wants one?" Matt announced.

    "Can I have a cup of coffee, please?" Baz pleaded.

    "I'll go and see if your doctor allows it." Barry volunteered.

    Soon the three of them had left the room, leaving the silent Lucas and Baz together.

    "Do you think they planned this?" Baz asked Lucas, who just shrugged. "It does give us a time to talk. I want to know what's happened in the last couple of days to make you go quiet; I want to know where I stand cos at the moment I'm at a loss. Please, help me out here." 

    Lucas continued to look down at the bed before finally raising his head to look at Baz. The teen had tears in his eyes that eventually trickled down his face. Baz leaned forward and wiped the tears away and was surprised when Lucas grasped onto his hand as though it was a life line. The elder man reached down and beckoned for him to come closer. As Lucas did so, he found himself being locked in a tight embrace and, pressing himself closer to Baz, he began to cry harder. Rocking gently, Baz whispered nonsensical words of comfort into his ear, as Lucas cried himself out. They stayed like that for a while until Lucas decided to make the first move.

    "_I'm sorry I acted like I did. I didn't mean to, but I thought that if you become my father then you would automatically become someone your not…"_

    "Someone like Lawrence, you mean?" Baz murmured. Lucas nodded his head.

    "_I was so selfish and I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry; I was just so angry I forgot all the things that happened before the conferences until Barry reminded me. I was so stupid and I hurt you too." _

    Lucas buried his head in his hands, unable to face Baz any more. Baz placed his arm around the teen and pulled him onto the bed, so his legs were dangling off the end and he was cradled in the elder man's lap. Placing one arm around the teen's shoulders, he used his other hand to softly and comfortingly stroke his back.

    "Listen to me. I know you didn't mean for anyone to get hurt and I'm sorry that we didn't have the conversation days ago, but what's happened has happened and we can't change the past, but we can fix this. It wasn't entirely your fault the situation got so far out of control, I had opportunities to talk to you, but I didn't. You weren't selfish, you were confused. You didn't know who to turn for answers, didn't know who to trust and neither did I. OK? We're going to fix this, one step at a time." Baz stated confidently.

    "_Are you like a modern day Bob the Builder then?" Lucas asked, a glint shone in his eyes for the first time in days. Baz laughed._

    "Yeah, something like that." Baz chuckled. "I love you, Scamp! I always have done and always will." 

    Lucas smiled at the nickname, it was given to him when he was younger and he had been a bit disappointed when they stopped calling him Scamp. Lucas snuggled into Baz's chest, feeling protected and safe for the first time in days. The pair began to talk and didn't stop talking until Matt, Emily and Barry came back carrying teas, coffees and a hot chocolate.

    Matt smiled when he saw the position they were sitting in. They looked so sweet together. He was glad they had made up though; he couldn't bear it if they hadn't. Eventually Lucas fell asleep, still on Baz's lap emotionally spent out. Baz chuckled when he saw the sleeping teen.

    "Shall we move him?" Matt asked.

    "Nah, leave him be…He's had a tough time, both of you have. He could do with the rest." Baz confided. "Now why isn't Lucas speaking?"

    Matt explained how the two detectives had questioned Lucas and how he had reacted badly, when they asked him about his mother.

   "And he hasn't been speaking since then… Bridger's done a brilliant job of making him feel loved; you should see Lucas when he's around him." Matt finished.

    Just then, their conversation was interrupter by the arrival of the two detectives, Benson and Paulson. Upon seeing the visitors around the bed, they stopped. The detectives hadn't realised that Baz had guests.

     "Ah, Mr Sunderland. I'm so glad you're awake and we were wondering if you felt up to answering some questions concerning your 'accident' on your own." Benson explained.

    "I don't mind, but I can't leave this room and I refuse to wake Lucas up…He's had a tough couple of days, and he's exhausted." Baz sternly told the two detectives.

    "And I'm not leaving Lucas alone with you two…If he wakes up, it'll take more than Baz's strength to calm him down. I need to be here to make sure that doesn't happen," Matt explained.

    "And I'm not leaving without Matt. So if Matt doesn't go neither do I." Emily stated. Benson looked at Barry before saying,

    "And what's your excuse?"

    "I don't have an excuse; I have a reason for staying. If Matt, Emily and Baz can't stop Lucas from panicking, I'm going to send you two out and go and get the doctor or nurse to sedate him." Barry reasoned.

    Benson rolled his eyes, knowing he had lost the battle.

    "He panics a lot then, does he?"

    "Only when you're around." Matt murmured. Baz gave him a sharp look and he immediately was quiet.

    "OK Mr Sunderland, have it your way then." Benson gave in. "What can you remember about the accident, which landed you in hospital?"

    "All I remember is getting a message from someone to go to the basement, to collect some light bulbs, I think it was."

    "And this person, can you describe he or she?" Paulson joined in.

    "It was a woman, I remember that, I think she had blonde hair and wore a uniform, like a waitresses. I could be mistaken though."

    "And what happened when you got down there?"

    "Well, when I got down there I heard a voice calling my name. It was a male's voice and kind of familiar, like I'd heard it before but a long time ago. I walked over to it and then darkness. The next thing I remember is waking up in hospital.

    "Do you have any enemies that might want to threaten you or your family?" Benson asked. Baz frowned,

    "Not that is alive. I mean I could have understood if it was Lawrence, but he's dead so that rules him out."

    "But you said that the voice was familiar, like you'd heard it a long time ago. Like maybe someone in you knew or maybe an ex-girlfriend out for revenge?" Paulson added.

    "But the fact that the voice was male rules out the ex-girlfriend theory, don't you think?" Benson pointed out. "But someone you know or knew is a possibility, wouldn't you say?" Baz sat still, concentrating hard.

    "Maybe."

    "Well, we will keep in touch with you, but until then keep safe." Benson warned. "The perpetrators may try to kill you again once they've found out you're still alive. Good day."

    With that, the two detectives left the room.

    "Did you notice he said perpetrator_s? It was plural." Emily picked up._

    "Yes he did, didn't he?" Barry agreed.

    "I'm just glad Lucas slept through it all without seeing the two detectives." Matt added.

    "Lucas could sleep through an atomic bomb if it went off by the side of his head." Baz fondly said, ruffling his hair.

    "Yeah, but he'd be dead if an atomic bomb went off next to his head." Barry pointed out. 

    "Good point." Baz laughed.

TBC…


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31.

    When Lucas awoke, he felt stiff and his muscles ached. He looked around the room before he remembered he was in the hospital. When Matt noticed Lucas was awake he cheerfully said,

    "Well, welcome back to the land of the living, sleeping beauty!"

    Lucas just glared playfully at his elder brother, still slightly disorientated from waking up.

    "I don't think he's fully awake still." Baz confirmed.

    Barry and Emily were asleep on the chairs in the corner of the room, resting against one another Lucas noticed. Baz, Matt and Lucas began using sign language to talk to each other so they didn't disturb the sleeping pair. Lucas was sitting cross legged on Baz's bed when Bridger entered.

    "Hello Baz, how are you doing?" Bridger greeted softly, after noticing the sleeping pair and walking up to his bed. He noticed that Lucas and Baz were talking and was glad.

    "I'm not too bad considering everything," Baz replied. "Aren't you guys supposed to be leaving soon? I mean, the conferences have finished now."

    "Actually, we've got some extra time," Bridger hedged. "But I need to talk to Lucas privately, if you don't mind. It shouldn't take long."

    "Yeah sure," Baz responded. "Take him away!"

    Lucas looked a bit worried, as Bridger led him outside to talk. The elder man led him to the relative's room, which was deserted at that time.

    "OK, now I've spoken to Admiral Noyce today and he told me something that was very interesting…" Lucas turned pale; worried that he was in trouble. As if he could read his mind, Bridger added, "Don't worry you're not in any trouble. I didn't know that the police were investigating Baz's accident as being deliberate. Why didn't you tell me?"

    Lucas just turned his huge puppy dog eyes towards Bridger before explaining in sign language,

    "W_ell, with Baz waking up and the detectives visit…It kinda slipped out of my mind I guess. I'm sorry,"_

    "Hey, that's OK. What I really came to say, but I couldn't do it with Baz listening is that Admiral Noyce has given us two weeks off to investigate his accident…I haven't told the rest of the crew yet because I wanted to know what your reaction would be. You don't have to agree to this remember, but I need to make sure it'll be all right with you two to investigate it and to tell Baz." Bridger tried to explain. Lucas looked deep in thought. Finally he signed,

    "_If it's OK with Baz, I don't mind. Are you going to work with those two detectives on this one? I don't like them, they're scary!"_

    Bridger was struck by how child like Lucas sounded, but ignored it as he answered the question.

    "I'm going to work with the police, but you don't have to be present when we talk to them." Bridger studied the teen closely for a second before commenting, "You're going to have to face them sooner or later, you do realise that? They're not going to disappear just because you want them too." He could see his words were having a profound effect on the teen. "What was it that made you so afraid of those detectives anyway?"

    He was surprised when Lucas's breathing became irregular, as he became more agitated, but was even more surprised when he burst into tears. Slightly alarmed, Bridger pulled Lucas into an embrace and rocked him until he became calm again.

    "Hey, what was all that about?" Bridger asked, after Lucas had calmed down a bit.

    At first, the elder man had been alarmed at the teens crying, but now he was curious as to how they first started. Lucas remained mute, refusing to even look at Bridger and instead buried his head deeper into Bridger's chest. Bridger forced the teen to look up at his face, so he wasn't hiding anymore. Fear lurked in the youths eyes and the elder mans' heart melted.

    "Did they ask you questions about your father? Is that it?" Bridger mistook his silence for an answer. "I know you were abused by your father, but that's all in the past, he can't hurt you now. You're safe here with Baz, Matt and Emily, the crew and me. No-one can hurt you and no one ever will. OK?"

    Lucas just buried his head again and Bridger began to rock him comfortingly. They stayed like that for a few more minutes before Bridger suggested,

    "Do you feel like going back now? Otherwise your uncle might think I've kidnapped you! And, although the idea is tempting, I don't think he'll be too pleased after you've just made up and all!" Lucas nodded his assent and together they headed back to tell Baz of the news.

***

    "So you guys are investigating too?" Baz thought for a while. "No, I don't mind as long as you keep me informed on any leads you get. The police don't tell us anything, though they did say that I might be in danger of another attack by the perpetrator_s_. They said it was plural, I don't know if they meant to or not…Everyone noticed."

    "_When were you questioned then?" Lucas signed; a frown appeared on his face._

    "_When you were asleep earlier on, they came to ask me a few questions. We didn't want to wake you!" Baz signed back. Bridger waited until they had stopped talking to ask his next question._

    "What exactly happened?" So Baz explained about the message and the voice again to Bridger and Lucas. Matt had joined Emily and had fallen asleep. "And that's it? There's nothing else you've remembered since you've told the police?"

    "Well, actually I was trying to remember where I've heard the voice before and I think I've placed it to someone at the conference or the hotel. One of those places, but I've definitely heard it in the last week or so and I think that's why it was vaguely familiar to me. But that's all, unless there have been any more notes…" Baz stopped as he watched Lucas. At the mention of the word 'notes' he grew visibly smaller. Bridger also noticed this and glanced at Baz, before saying,

    "All right Lucas, give the note to us and don't' try to deny its existence. Remember you've never lied to me before."

    The ploy worked and they watched as Lucas dug his hand into his back pocket and fished out a crumpled piece of paper. Handing it to Bridger, he looked down as they read it.

    "How long have you had this?" Bridger's face was stern, scaring Lucas slightly.

    "_A couple of days, I think." Lucas looked down at the bed, his hand tracing the pattern of the duvet. Baz was about to say something more, when the door suddenly burst open._

    "OK, don't anybody move!" There in the door way stood a masked intruder holding a gun by his side and from the voice, they could tell he was a man. Baz paled, as he recognised the voice as being the one from the cellar.

    "You're the one from the cellar aren't you?" Baz spoke out. Glancing at Lucas, he became worried as he noticed the youth was close to hyperventilating.

    "Very good, your memory serves you well." The man spoke, as he advanced towards the bed.

    "What do you want?" Bridger asked.

    "Him dead!" The masked intruder raised his gun, still advancing towards them. 

    He had only made it past the sleeping forms of Matt and Emily. Then three things happened, the first was that the door again opened, revealing Dr Roosevelt. The next three seconds were a blur to Baz; he saw Matt leap out of the chair he had occupied and move to hit the intruder. The intruder, having seen a movement out of the corner of his eye, turned and trained his gun on Matt, stopping him dead in his tracks. What he didn't count on was Lucas, who had now broken free of Bridger's firm grasp and pummelled into the intruder from behind. A shot was fired from the gun and all three collapsed onto the floor. Bridger rushed forward to check on Lucas and to check if the intruder was unconscious, while Emily checked on Matt.

    "Oh my god! He's bleeding; I think he's been shot." Emily cried. 

    Dr Roosevelt, hearing Emily's pleas, rushed over to take a look. He began to do a quick assessment of Matt's condition, while Barry rushed to get some help. The intruder began to stir, forcing Bridger to tie him up. Lucas however looked as though he was going into shock. As Bridger bent over to check on the prisoner, Lucas took a chance and bolted out the door and took off running. The only thing Lucas thought as he ran was,

    'I've killed my brother!'

TBC…

Ah! Poor Lucas. Sorry this part took so long, but I seem to be getting not a lot of time to do anything at the moment. I'll try and get another part up soon, but I can't promise anything. Hope you enjoy this part.


	32. Chapter 32 At long last

Chapter 32.

An hour later and Matt had finally been stabilised and the doctor came to speak to the relatives. Bridger and Barry were still searching for Lucas who had been missing for a while. Emily and Baz were waiting for news of Matt's condition.

    "Why do they take so long? I mean what if he's dead and they hadn't told us… They wouldn't do that would they?" Emily ranted to Baz.

    "Matt's not dead, I refuse to believe that and I know you do too. He's a survivor and I'm sure the doctor will tell us that Matt's going to be all right any minute now." Just at that moment, the doctor entered the room.

    "How is he?" Emily blurted out. "When can we see him?"

    "Matt's just fine. He sustained a gun shot wound to the chest, as you know but we have him stabilised now. It missed any vital organs but it did break a couple of ribs, which will be sore for a while but will eventually heal over time…" Neither Baz nor Emily heard the rest of the doctors' speech.

    "When can we see him?" Emily interrupted the doctor.

    "Well not today, but possibly tomorrow or the day after."

    "Can I go too?" Baz was worried he might not be allowed. "I mean it was my head that was hurt, not my legs."

    "If you can find someone to wheel you down in a wheelchair. But I stress that if you feel dizzy at all you must tell me immediately. I will be here when you are moved and you _have to take it slowly, OK?" The doctor ordered, as if he were talking to a small child. Baz nodded._

***

    After the doctor had left, Emily decided to purchase a drink from the drinks dispenser nearby.

    "You want anything?" She asked the elder man.

    "No, thank you." Baz replied. Now that they knew Matt was all right, his mind was preoccupied with Lucas.

    Emily left Baz alone with his thoughts. She suddenly felt emotionally drained as she walked down the corridor. Reaching the machine, Emily was surprised to hear a sound, almost like someone was crying. It sounded like it was coming from beside the machine. Emily purchased a hot chocolate before deciding to investigate the cause. On the other side of the machine, she was surprised to find Lucas crouched in the corner crying.

    "Hey, there you are…We've been looking all over for you!" Emily spoke softly, trying not to startle the troubled youth. Lucas shrank further into the corner, as he looked up and saw who it was. His tears disappearing suddenly. "Hey, it's ok. I'm not going to hurt you… Do you want some hot chocolate? It's good for shock, which you look like you're going into." Lucas gratefully accepted the chocolate and warmed his hands against it, sipping gently.

    "_They're going to take me away, I know it." Lucas finally signed._

    "Who? Lucas, no one is going to take you away. I promise." Emily reassured him.

    "_The police, for Matt's murder. I killed him. I killed him!"_

    "Matt's not dead. He's just broken a couple of ribs…The shot deflected thanks to you, he would have been dead if you hadn't jumped the intruder. You're not going to be taken away, you're a hero." Lucas looked at Emily in shock, not wanting to believe.

    "_I don't believe you!" At these words, something inside Emily snapped._

    "Well, you'd better start believing. Do you really think that I'd lie to you about something like this? I'll tell you now, I wouldn't. Not about something this big. God, you are so spoiled. Baz has had an accident and was nearly killed! He wanted a _conversation with you not through signs, but through your own voice, through your heart. But you couldn't even do that. You're not a kid anymore, so stop acting like one. Please." A bit calmer now, she said, "I don't mean to have a go at you and I'm sorry if I am. Now the way I see it, you've got two choices, you can either stay out here all night and wallow in self pity like a kid or you can come back, stop Baz's worrying and start talking. Which is it, Lucas?" Lucas remained silent, so Emily rose to her feet. "I'm going back to the room now. I'll leave you to make your decision."   _

    With that, Emily left Lucas alone. Lucas stared in shock at Emily's speech. Some of her words had stung him, but he realised that the reason why they had stung was because they were the truth. Emily was right, he had been hiding in the shadows too long and he decided he would take the first step out of the shadows into daylight. It was a scary thought, but he knew he could make it. With a flash of determination, Lucas rose to his feet and threw the empty cup in the bin on the walk back to Baz's room.

TBC…

I'm back! Sorry it took so long, but I've got GCSE's coming up, so it's all revision, homework, revision, homework, and just for a change, some more revision and homework. I'm not sure how long it will take me to get the next part up; I hope it won't be as long (time wise) as this, but no promises.


	33. Chapter 33 Tying knots

Chapter 33.

    Baz looked up as a second person entered the room five minutes after Emily had. He was both relieved and shocked when he saw it was Lucas.

    "Lucas! Where've you been? We've been worried sick about you…" Baz didn't really expect an answer, but was shocked when he did.

    "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to!" Lucas sounded on the verge of tears, so Baz waved him over to the bed. Emily took her cue and left the room, leaving the pair to talk in private.

    "Didn't mean to what?" Baz looked into the teen's eyes.

    "I…I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I've been so selfish…" Lucas broke off, when tears threatened to break his voice.

    "About what happened to Matt? He's going to be all right, you saved his life! Without you, he would have been dead…"

    "Not just with Matt… About everything! I never even considered what Matt was going through when the policemen asked me the questions; I never ever considered what you were going through after the accident…" Lucas broke down into tears and Baz placed his arms around him for the second time in two days.

    "Listen to me, Matt has Emily to talk to. You have me and I have you to talk to. We'll stick together like the old times, nothing's changed and it never will. Anything you do wrong, you can fix it, learn from your mistakes. Like the old saying goes, 'Experience is what you get, when you don't get what you want'. I love you, Scamp."

    "I love you too." Lucas replied, before leaning forward into an embrace. They stayed that way until Emily, Barry and Nathan entered the room five minutes later.

    "Lucas, where've you been? We've been looking for you everywhere!" Barry began.

    "Here and there." Lucas replied distantly.

    "You're speaking! How? When?" Nathan was amazed.

    "Since now," Lucas replied, effectively ending the conversation. He was about to say something more when he was suddenly interrupted by two people bursting into the room. It was the detectives.

    "Listen, you're in danger…The guy who was captured earlier is called Jimmy Guildford and he's not working alone on this." Benson panted. "He talked. He told us that his partner planned all of this and that she was going to try again today, sometime this evening. We have to move you, and fast…"

    "His partner…What was her name?" Baz asked, his face had turned ashen.

    "Her name is Amy Adamson." Jimson answered.

    "Amy?" Lucas gasped.

    "Do you know her then?" Benson asked, suddenly interested.

    "Amy is Matt's mum." Baz sighed.

    "I thought Cynthia Adamson was Matt's mum?" Benson was clearly confused.

    "No, Cynthia married Steve, Matt's dad. She was his step mother but Amy was his biological mother." Baz explained. Everyone turned round to face the door, as it began to slowly open. A nurse entered, wheeling a tray of food and needles in behind her. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but Baz couldn't help feeling he had seen her before…

    "Look, we've got to move you out of here as soon as possible…It's going to get dangerous. She knows where your room is and any minute now she could turn up and…" It was as far as Jimson got, before the crack of a gun being fired was heard and his face crumpled in pain. He fell to the floor and was instantly killed. Everyone turned to see the nurse holding a smoking gun.

    "I don't want anyone to move. No hero's, is that understood?" She had an insane look about her.

    "Amy, long time no see?" Baz's face was set in a grim line and he hugged Lucas closer towards himself. The teen had gone deathly pale and was on the verge of hyperventilating.

    "Yes Baz and I see you still have the same habits of keeping things that don't belong to you." Amy trained the gun onto the pair on the bed.

    "Why, Amy? Why did you try and kill me?"

    "I felt like it. Is that all right with you?" Amy replied, slightly irritated by the question.

    "What so you just woke up one day and decided, 'I've got an idea, let's try and kill someone today!' I don't buy that." Bridger spoke up, trying to draw the attention from Lucas and Baz and onto himself. Emily and Benson were in different parts of the room to him. "I think you had a reason to do everything you did, I think you wanted to hurt him and badly, for something he did to you a long time ago…"

    "No, you've got it all wrong!" Amy screamed, her hand looming dangerously close to the trigger and now pointing it at Bridger.

    "So tell us, why are you doing this?" Bridger softly spoke.

    "I'm not doing this to hurt _Baz_, its Lucas I want to hurt. You don't understand. Every time I tried to get close to Matt, after Steve moved in with that _slut_ Cynthia, all he would talk about is Lucas and Cynthia all day…" Lucas felt his blood boil after hearing the insult directed at his mother. "You don't know what it was like, none of you do. And then she had to go and get cancer. You know to this day, I swear she did it to annoy me." Baz had to physically restrain Lucas, who was quietly struggling to hit Amy. To hurt her in the way she had hurt him. "So, now you know why I'm doing this I'm going to have to kill you all…"

    "You were jealous!" Amy looked at the speaker. It was Emily. "You caused all this pain and suffering because you were jealous of Lucas? Matt loved you, but you drove him crazy…And that day he told you he was going to marry me, you went mad at him because you finally saw that you couldn't keep him any more and I could. You literally threw us out of the house. Don't you see? The only person who took Matt away from you was yourself…Can't you see?"

    "No you see.…" Amy began with a wild look in her eye before she collapsed to the ground. Behind her stood Benson, who held a needle in his hand. The contents were half empty.

    "It's anaesthetic; it'll wear off soon so we'll have to hurry." Benson added. Barry, Emily and Lucas hurried to get some help, leaving Bridger and Baz to look after the prisoner. Help was quick to arrive, but it was after midnight before they were released from the police station. In the end, the hospital consented to let them stay in Baz's room. Matt was being moved into the same room the next morning.

    Everyone was asleep, or so Baz thought until he heard a gentle sob. He immediately recognised Lucas' heart wrenching sobs, having heard them many times in the past. Not wanting to intrude Lucas' privacy just yet, the elder man listened until the sobs had died down, before softly calling,

    "Lucas, can I talk to you a second?"

    He could hear a soft gasp of shock from Lucas, who hadn't realised anyone, was awake. A few seconds later, he meekly obeyed. The teen had silent tears running down his face, the elder man could make out in the light of the moon.

    "I want you to tell me _every_thing, starting with why you stopped talking, Matt and anything else that's been bothering you." Baz's approach was different from anything he had tried before. "I'm giving you a chance to talk to me, as a grownup, as a friend who you can trust. Whether you want to talk is up to you but you have to talk about this sooner or later."

    "So do you." Lucas countered.

    "I will, after you. Now, do you feel ready to talk?" Baz was relieved when Lucas nodded his head softly. "What made you stop talking?" After what seemed like a life time of waiting, Lucas replied,

    "There was a visit from the police…They knew about the note…The one they found in your back pocket that was actually mine. I don't know how, but I told them what I told you, how it appeared under the door. Then they moved onto more questions, about mum and how she died…" Lucas trailed off here, the pain and anguish resurfacing again. "Why can't I remember? It's been years, and I still can't remember how my own mother died!" Lucas spoke the last sentence with such venom, he surprised himself. He looked to Baz for an answer.

    "Some times your mind blocks things so horrible to protect yourself from the things you don't want to see." Baz gently explained. "No matter how long it takes, it will come back but when your mind thinks you're ready for it." The answer made sense to Lucas and he carried on with his story.

    "I just got so scared and all I could see was the door handle of the kitchen and my hand reaching out to grab it…And then Matt holding me and saying it's all right. I was just so scared; I couldn't say anything cos I could still see the door handle and Lawrence's face staring back at me. I didn't want to make him mad, but somehow I always did. I wasn't good enough for him, in anything I did." Lucas' tears began to show in his voice and Baz held him close.

    "Lawrence was cruel man and the things he did to you were unforgivable and horrible…But not everyone's like that. I'm not, Matt's not and Bridger and many other people aren't, it's just a random few that feel so depressed with life that they take it out on the first person they see and, I'm sorry to say, that person was you." Once Lucas had calmed a bit, Baz asked him, "What persuaded you to start talking again?"

    "That was Emily's fault," Lucas remembered with a smile. "She told me I had two choices, I could either be an adult and start to talk or hide away and be a child. She left the decision up to me." The teen yawned and leaned sleepily against the elder man. Baz could see his charge was growing weary of the present conversation and so changed the topic to a more cheerful one until the elder man was sure his charge had fallen asleep. Glancing down at the teen, he looked so peaceful and innocent that Baz's heart melted.

    'Night, Scamp.'

TBC…

Well, now you know about the guy, I just need to clear a few things up with the plot cos it's gone a bit haywire at present. It'll all become clearer in the next chapter.


	34. Chapter 34 The end at last

Chapter 34.

The next morning, Barry took everyone, minus Baz who was staying with Matt, to the police station. Matt had been moved into Baz's room earlier that morning, but was still sleeping. Once they had arrived, they were ushered into a private room to talk with Benson.

    "OK, I've got a signed confession from Amy's partner in crime, Jimmy Guildford. He told us that he did it out of love for Amy. She was the one who persuaded him to help her write notes and post it under people's doors. According to Jimmy, he didn't know what they said and he did all of her bidding and fetching. She had him lure Mr Sunderland into the basement to try and kill him, when that failed they resorted to guns."

    "Why did they do it in the first place?" Emily asked.

    "They wanted revenge on Mr Wolenczak, who had taken away her only child and that's the only thing we could get out of them. We're sending a psychiatrist round later today."

    "Then why did they send notes to the other crew members?" Nathan asked.

    "They did that to hurt the one's closest to Mr Wolenczak, and they were going to write another letter to draw Mr Wolenczak out to try and kill him like they attempted to with Mr Sunderland." Benson answered.

    "So they used the crew to get to me and they were going to eventually draw me out and kill me, just because Matt used to talk about me to his mum? Is that what you're saying?" Lucas asked.

    "Yes, I think Ms Adamson is mentally disturbed and was scared of loosing Matt. Unfortunately she did this by telling him lies and, after Matt found out, she lost him through what she had been telling him. She loved him so much she didn't want to let go, she couldn't let go of him. She had already lost a husband to your mother." Benson was suddenly interrupted by his pager. "If you'll excuse me, I have to leave you but feel free to stay here to talk things over. I know this was hard on all of you." With that he disappeared out the door, leaving the group to get their bearings over what had just been discussed.

***

    Not five minutes later, the group made excuses and parted company. Barry and Nathan headed back to the hotel to debrief the crew of last nights events, while Emily and Lucas headed back to the hospital.

    When they arrived at the hospital, they discovered Matt was already awake. He was very groggy, but knew who everyone around him was. They decided not to tell Matt about Amy until he was feeling better. A nurse entered the room, making everyone jump.

    "When can I get out of here?" Baz asked her, after she had finished jotting down notes.

    "Well, if you're good then we might be able to let you out today!" The nurse smiled, as Baz silently cheered.

    "What about Matt?" Lucas asked.

    "I'm afraid he'll be in here a bit longer. It all depends on how fast his body recovers." The nurse replied. "OK, now have you got a coat or something you can wear? It's very cold out."

    "What, you mean now? Right now?" Lucas asked, his face brightening at the prospect.

    "The earlier the better!" The nurse replied.

    "Yes, we've put one in the cupboard ready." Emily replied, beaming.

***

    Soon Baz was ready to exit the hospital. He began to whine at the prospect of having a wheelchair.

    "It was my head that was hurt, not my legs! I don't see why I need a wheelchair," Baz complained.

    "It's for your own good in case you fall. You don't want to end up in here again…And besides if you're good, I'll drive your wheelchair, but if you don't stop complaining I'm going to let Lucas drive." Lucas grinned evilly and rubbed his hands together in delight. "You see my point?" Emily looked as though she was telling off a four year old. Baz meekly nodded and stopped complaining immediately.

    Emily wheeled Baz out of the hospital and towards the car. With Lucas' help, she was able to load Baz into the back and drove in the direction of the hotel.

Epilogue: A couple of months later.

    "Matt! How are you doing?" Lucas asked the person on the vid screen. He had been on SeaQuest for a couple of weeks and he spoke to his elder brother regularly.

    "Not too bad, considering my mum tried to kill us…" Matt trailed off.

    "Hey, it's not your fault. She was mentally ill and you couldn't help that. No one could. How's your shoulder?" Lucas asked.

    "It's getting better; I'm at home now which is good. Anyway I got to go, Baz is moaning again as usual. I swear it's like a hobby to the guy!" Matt groaned. Lucas laughed

    "Say hi to everyone. Speak to you later," Lucas assured. The link was broken, terminating the call. The teen jumped as his PAL rang and he rushed off to thrash the Captain in a game of chess. 

    "I love it here!" Lucas mumbled to nobody in particular.

THE END…At last!!!

I finally finished. Hope you liked it, sorry it was so long I never meant it to happen. Feedback and reviews are much appreciated! Thanks to all who have helped me and given me the strength to carry on, without them I wouldn't have ever finished this!


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